when you were young
by mildlyholmes
Summary: Five years later, everybody gets along. Tony even thinks that they're like some sort of family. But one morning when an attack goes wrong, the Avengers, Loki, Jane, Pepper and Betty find themselves turned into children. What's worse - Fury finds there's no cure. Watch the ten kids grow up together, and how this changes their relationships! Multiple ships. NO SLASH, lots of fluff!
1. Attack

**Hi there! So I decided to start a new story, and this one has no actual plot other than sweet, fluffy Avengers sweetness. I always wondered how things would be different if the Avengers and their love interests grew up together and how this would change their relationships - and I read the fic Baby Avengers by livin-la-vida-loki-d, and it is the cutest thing! You guys have to check it out.  
**

**So this is my rendition of: what if the Avengers plus Loki and their girlfriends were hit by an non-reversible spell, and have to live out their lives together? Be warned, because this will probably be exploring all possible ships in the Avengers, and I'll be putting Natasha with a bunch of them, because I literally ship her with everyone. Clintasha is not guaranteed, sorry!**

**So, enough with me - you wanna read the story! Enjoy and review!**

* * *

It was a peaceful Saturday morning in New York City. Or, it was peaceful to the Avengers. New York was a busy city, and with its traffic, busy streets and shouting pedestrians, it could never be peaceful.

Tony Stark loved his life. He had finally married his long-time girlfriend, nobody dared threaten him with his suit and he had actually started counting his team as a part of his family. He loved his team: Bruce, his science bro; Steve, the Capsicle; Natasha, his (surprisingly) best friend; Clint, the sassy and witty kick-asser; and Thor, the hilarious god who loved pop tarts. Plus Peter, of course, who had recently joined the Avengers two years prior.

What a coincidence, he thought in his head as JARVIS informed them that Peter was on the phone. The twenty-three-year-old was going for his first day of work as a research scientist in Roxxone Energy Co., and it was his first actual time in using his science major in chemistry and physics. His last job had been as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle, so Peter was quite nervous about this one.

"Put it on loudspeaker, JARVIS," Tony instructed, sitting down on the couch next to Natasha and stealing her coffee. She rolled her eyes and nudged him in the stomach, which he dodged. "Aha!" he yelled in triumph. "That doesn't work on me anymore, Tasha!"

"Whatever, Stark," Natasha replied with an easy smile on her face, leaning into Tony's chest as he sipped her coffee.

Tony had loved Natasha when she had been his PA, and found himself completely at ease with her. He didn't know what it was, but he liked her as a person, and not just because of her rocking body. She was a mystery to him - she never smiled - and back then, he wanted to find out what was keeping her so reserved and let her be at ease with him. He had completely trusted her, which was why he felt absolutely betrayed when he found out about Natasha's actual job.

And then she had become his teammate, and he found himself slowly forgiving her for her betrayal after she confronted him the day after the Chitauri attacked and made sure that he knew she didn't mean to. But Natasha was still stoic and collected, never revealing her actual emotions - and while the rest of the team liked her, they didn't do anything to change that. Clint didn't really help either, even though the two were romantically involved - he told Tony that that was just the way she was, and he couldn't do anything to change that, and Tony had wanted to prove him wrong. So he did.

He talked to her more often, met up with her, and with Pepper's help, Natasha slowly began to leave her disability to trust and opened up to him. She had turned out to be a great friend that Tony could put his trust in, and pretty fun as well. They had become closer over the years, and whenever Tony had come near death or had a problem, he'd call Natasha, because she wouldn't fuss over him like Pepper would and she'd always do what he needed her to do. Like that time when Tony had broken his arm because of an attack gone wrong and he had called Natasha to fix him up after the team left his floor and Pepper was out. She had glanced at his arm then quickly twisted it back to its original position, ignoring his loud yell of pain. And she didn't take crap from him either; she had scoffed in his face and told him to "man up", but she returned to him and took care of him the rest of the night anyway.

Natasha always had a weird way of showing her affection, but it worked for Tony. He was just happy that she looked happier than he had ever seen her before.

"Hey guys," Peter's voice sounded through the loudspeaker, sounding nervous.

"Hey," all six of the Avengers chorused, Thor having decided to stay on Earth to be with Jane. Speaking of Jane, Tony had actually hired her for Stark Industries after Thor had complained about the travel distance between New York and New Mexico. She was exceedingly smart and a talented physicist, and that was enough for Tony. Besides, she was looking for a better job, anyway.

"How's the job going?" asked Steve from his position on the floor, where he was leaning against the couch where Natasha and Tony sat.

"Met any new hot chicks yet?" Clint asked as he walked away from the bar, holding a cup of hot chocolate. He climbed up a ladder and sat on a double-decker couch; Clint had insisted that if he was to be around, he needed a 'nest'.

"Shut up, Clint," Peter groaned, and Natasha chuckled. "I'm outside - they're expecting me in ten minutes."

"Don't worry, Pete, you'll do great," Bruce said encouragingly, sitting on a lone armchair.

"Yeah, you'll blow their minds with your brain, they won't know what hit them," Tony supplied.

"I hope so," Peter sighed. Thor was about to throw his pop tarts on the floor but remembered where he was, and stopped mid-way, sheepishly getting up to throw the box away.

"Peter, you're one of the smartest people I've ever met, and that's saying a lot," Natasha informed him, lifting her head off Tony's chest. "They're lucky to have you. Plus, you're freaking Spider-Man; if they fire you, just kick their asses."

"Amen," Tony chorused after Natasha, making Steve laugh.

"Thanks, Natasha." They heard Peter sigh. "Okay, I've got to go. Wish me luck!"

"Bless you, manservant of cars!" Thor boomed as he walked in, and Tony roared in laughter at the variation of Peter's last name. Thor thought that wishing someone luck meant showering them with his blessing, since he was a god, and being blessed by him should give you luck for all eternity.

"Um, thanks, Thor. Bye, guys."

"Bye Parker!" Clint yelled out before Peter hung up on them. "My little boy's growing up," he sniffed, wiping a fake tear from his eyes. Bruce threw a pillow at him, laughing.

Bruce had definitely changed since five years ago. He was a more lively man, showed affection more and cracked more jokes, revealing a whole new person behind the calm and controlled Bruce Banner. Of course, his reunion with his former girlfriend Betty Ross had contributed to that, who Pepper had become quick friends with.

"Sir, Loki has arrived at the bottom floor," JARVIS said in his cool voice.

"Bottom floor?" Steve frowned while Tony yelled, "Send him up!"

Loki had been subjected to 'banishment' on Earth as well after his attack five years ago. Since it had worked out for Thor, Odin decided to let Loki atone for his sins on Midgard, where he would live with Thor, and since Thor lived with the others in the Avengers (Tony had started calling it that) Tower, Loki stayed there, too. At first they hadn't gotten along well at all; they were all still suspicious of Loki and Fury was furious (heh) at Odin's 'punishment', but Loki had quickly deemed himself worthy to be trusted, with the help of Thor and surprisingly, Steve. The guy saw good in everyone, and was the first to actually decide to treat Loki normally.

But Loki had made it clear that trying to take over Midgard was a mistake, and proved it by helping out with problems on Earth. He had greatly improved the human trafficking situation, and spent lots of time retrieving kids from all over the world and bringing them to an institute to care for them. With the help of Tony, he had set up an organisation to bring traffickers down, and had reduced sex slavery immensely, even more with child slavery. Needless to say, SHIELD and the team had been so impressed that Loki had been forgiven and offered a place on the Avengers, to which he declined, though he informally joined them for some missions.

Loki walked into the room, looking tired for a Saturday morning. He was dressed in a formal suit with a green tie, and his hair had turned a nice brown from too much exposure to sunlight, and less greasy. He sat down next to Natasha on the couch, mumbling a greeting to the others.

"How was Thailand, Loki?" asked Steve, who had decided to occupy another armchair. Loki instantly perked up.

"Good," he replied, "we found one of the major traffickers in the north. They had been attempting to ship children off to the Philippines, but I've sent them to the nearest institute. The leading faces are now prisoners."

"That is wonderful, brother!" Thor exclaimed, and Loki smiled, nodding.

"Yeah, it really is," Natasha smiled, patting Loki's thigh. She hesitated a while, then said, "I'm proud of you."

Loki glanced at Natasha warmly, and laid his hand on top of hers. "Thank you, Natasha," he replied.

Tony smiled at the exchange. When the rest of them started listening to Loki's encounters in Thailand, he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I'm proud of you too, Tasha."

Natasha squeezed Tony's hand and went back to listening to Loki.

A few moments later, Jane, Pepper and Betty showed up, each of their partners looking up with a grin on their face, Thor responding the most enthusiastically with a boom of, "Jane!". Pepper sat on the other side of Tony while Loki and Natasha shifted to make room while Betty and Jane went to sit with their boyfriends.

"How's it going down there?" Tony asked Jane, wanting to know what the next act for clean energy was.

"It's going great!" she said enthusiastically, and launched into details while Tony nodded with glee. Betty soon joined the conversation, wanting to get information to tell her students at the Empire State University, where she worked. Bruce watched her with a smile as she supplied some of her own ideas. Loki and Natasha started talking about Steve's date with a young brunette while Steve blushed and refused to supply details, save for the fact that he wasn't going to ask her out again. Tony soon withdrew from the conversation with Betty, Bruce, Jane and Thor (who was just watching confusedly) and was having a private conversation with Pepper. Clint, from his nest, was making hawk noises the whole time, occasionally yelling, "Caw caw, motherfuckers!"

Clint was the first one who saw it coming. A grenade was thrown onto the roof, and Clint let out a yell as he ran outside and kicked it away, looking for the source. Natasha was beside him in a second, and the rest of the Avengers, plus Loki, joined them after a while.

"What was that?" asked Bruce.

"Grenade," snarled Natasha. She narrowed her eyes, looking for the source, and finally spotted a strange-looking man wearing a tunic. He appeared to be chanting. "There!" she pointed, and all of them went into defense mode, Clint firing an arrow.

The tunic man caught it and vanished, appearing on the roof of a building opposite them. He laughed wickedly.

"You will perish today, my friends!" he grinned.

"It is the Executioner," Thor said in disbelief.

"But he's dead," Loki said in the same tone. At the others' looks of confusion, he elaborated. "His name is Skurge, and we used to spar with him back in the day. He fell for the Lady Amora, who was banished to another realm, and struck against Odin in anger."

"He was too dangerous to be alive," Thor finished darkly. He held his hand out, and Tony assumed that he was summoning Mjolnir.

"He's chanting," Natasha interrupted, and Loki was just able to put up a shield spell before they were all hit with a blast of magic. The Avengers, Loki, Jane, Pepper and Betty collapsed to the ground from the impact of the blast. There was a loud yell, and then quiet.

Thor looked up around him, his ears ringing from the blast. Tony and Clint were both passed out beside him, and Thor coughed as Natasha, Loki, Steve and Bruce staggered up.

"What was that?" asked Steve groggily, heaving a coughing fit. He suddenly noticed Tony and Clint still passed out. "Clint? Tony?" he asked, kneeling down beside them to shake them awake. Natasha pressed her ear to Clint's chest while Steve fumbled with Tony's wrist for a pulse.

"He's alive," Natasha said softly, and Steve sighed in relief indicating that Tony was alive as well.

"We - we were hit, there was a guy..." Bruce frowned, and as if on cue all five of them turned to the other building, where the tunic-wearing man was unconscious with blood trickling down his chin.

Thor raised his hammer, intending to fly over, and Loki grabbed his arm at the last moment to go with him. Natasha and Bruce watched as Thor kicked the guy, and when he didn't get a response, kneeling down to check for a life sign. "Wait!" Loki cried, using his power to create a shield between Thor and the man. Thor frowned at his brother.

"Brother, he might still be alive -"

"He used magic similar to mine, Thor. You do not understand. Look," Loki gestured, and Thor turned to look back at the man, but in his place was an unconscious child. Thor's eyes widened and he nodded, letting Loki kneel by the boy. Loki closed his eyes and concentrated, hovering his hand over the boy's chest, and his eyes snapped open.

"What is it?" Bruce called from the Avengers Tower, and Loki staggered backwards.

"Do not touch it, Thor," he warned as a golden thread began to form over the body. "Or you shall perish as well." To prove Loki's point, a pigeon landed on the body, and as the body grew brighter and smaller, it eventually disappeared along with the pigeon.

"What the hell just happened?" Natasha asked, and Bruce shook his head.

"Explain to us all, brother," Thor said in a low voice, and flew himself and Loki back to the Tower, when he suddenly noticed the women inside. "Jane!" he cried out at the sight of her limp body, and Bruce took notice of Betty as well. They both ran towards the penthouse as Loki examined Tony carefully. Natasha let out a sound of annoyance mixed with desperation; for once she had absolutely no idea what was going on, and how she could help.

"They are merely slumbering," Loki called out to Thor and Bruce as they carried the three women (Thor had managed to lift Pepper as well) to the open space.

"Can you please tell us what the hell is going on?" Natasha asked impatiently, while the other two nodded. Loki sighed.

"Skurge had been gifted in sorcery, like I," Loki started, "he had used a banishing spell. In other words, he was going to erase us all from time. We would never have existed."

"That is dark magic," Thor said in a low voice while Natasha covered her mouth in shock and Bruce stared in disbelief.

"Yes," Loki agreed, "had I not created a shield, we would all have been perished. But my shield had deflected the spell, and Skurge himself was hit. He now had never existed."

"But if he had never existed, then why do we remember him?" Bruce asked, puzzled.

"We had a brief encounter with him just before the spell," Loki said. "It is an after effect - we should forget him soon. Everyone will. The spell was supposed to de-age us to our early years, and finally make the body disappear, as you have all witnessed. In short, Skurge had never been born at all."

Natasha couldn't wrap her mind around it, and therefore asked a simpler question. "What happened to the others?"

Loki hesitated before sighing. "Although I managed to shield you from the damage," he began carefully, "I did not manage to deflect the spell entirely. We have all been hit."

"What?" Bruce exclaimed, scratching his head. "So are we going to be erased from existence as well? Is there a cure?"

"I don't know," Loki said honestly, "I should hope not. If the worst should happen, we would de-age as he had done. And I have no knowledge of a counter-spell to this. But I do not understand what had happened to the others, I am sorry."

"I was exposed to radiation, and it strengthened my immune system," Bruce said after a while. "Steve had his super soldier serum, Thor and Loki are gods, and Natasha -"

"I was injected by the super serum as well," she cut in and Steve stared at her in shock. "It slows my body clock, and I'm betting that it strengthened my immune system as well. Our bodies are equipped to deal with strong stuff. That's why the others are out," she realised.

"Then they will be hit by the consequences first," Loki said gravely, and the five of them grew silent.

"Will we be remembered?" Steve asked suddenly. "If we de-age."

Loki frowned thoughtfully before replying. "I should believe so," he nodded, "but only by strong minds and those close to us. I don't think the public will."

"This is ridiculous," Natasha laughed without humour. "So I'm supposed to believe that we were hit by a spell that's going to change us into kids, and nobody's going to remember us except for SHIELD and a bunch of your relatives, there's no cure, and did I mention - we're going to change into _kids!"_

She groaned in frustration and kicked one of her guns. She had been taught to deal with situations, but _not _with something like this. With something like this, she didn't know how to react.

"Tasha, we'll be okay," Steve said, leaning beside her and putting his arms around her, ever the captain.

"JARVIS, did Tony's security cameras catch this?" Bruce asked, and Loki frowned at him.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Because if Fury comes and it's too late -" he cut himself off at Steve's glare, and sighed. "Just show this to Fury."

"Very well, sir."

The five of them decided to move Tony, Clint, Pepper, Betty and Jane back into the penthouse, laying them on different couches. Thor sat with Jane, Steve had resorted to a glass of scotch, Natasha had resigned to the whole bottle, and Bruce was talking to Loki about possible ways to undo the spell.

"I am sorry, Bruce, I know not of the counter-spell," Loki sighed, and Bruce pressed on.

"But if there was a way to _undo _the spell -"

"I know not of the origins of the enchantment."

"There must be another way," Bruce muttered, fearing for Betty and the others who were passed out. What if the passed out people would have it worse than the ones awake? Would they be erased from existence, but very, very slowly?

"Shit," muttered Natasha, and she stumbled against the bar, dropping her bottle. Steve caught her and laid her down on the ground, where she was losing consciousness.

"No, Tasha, Natasha, don't do this!" Steve shook her while Bruce kept yelling to keep her awake.

It didn't do any good, and Natasha lay slumped against Steve's legs, passed out. Loki and Thor watched quietly as Steve lifted her up and lay her down on another couch. Bruce paced the room, muttering, "No, no, no."

"Bruce," Steve warned, but Bruce didn't calm down. He became more and more angry, and his eyes blared green. "Bruce you don't want to do this!" Steve yelled, Loki and Thor getting up to keep the Hulk down, but they didn't need to.

Bruce's eyes returned to normal and he fell to the floor as Thor and Steve rushed to check on him. "He has used too much energy," Thor realised, as Bruce now lay unconscious as well. Steve shut his eyes tightly and Loki spoke gravely.

"It has begun."


	2. A Cure

**Thank you for all the follows and the one person who reviewed! This chapter may be a bit confusing, but I hope you'll enjoy it!**

* * *

Fury walked into the penthouse, surveying the damage around him.

The windows had shattered along with delicate objects in the room. Hawkeye's 'nest' was turned over, broken. There were a few shattered glasses and a broken bottle of scotch, and Fury stared gravely at his team.

Rogers was passed out by the bar, slumped against the counter. Thor and Loki were both laying on the ground, eyes closed, Banner not far away from them. The couches were occupied by Romanoff, Potts, Stark, Foster, Ross and Barton, all unconscious.

Whoever did this to the team was very powerful, and had managed to get away. There were not many things that fazed Fury, but the fact that they had taken out the entire team, which included two gods, was enough to be worried about.

"Oh my god," Agent Hill stepped away from behind him, gasping at the unconscious heroes. Fury knelt down beside Banner, who was closest to him, and observed him carefully.

There was something... off about him. His face had less wrinkles, his hair was shorter and less grey, and he was thinner. It was almost as if -

"Sir, I'm not sure if I'm going mad, but Stark and Romanoff look like they just graduated high school."

Fury walked over and inspected them himself. Sure enough, Stark looked incredibly young and healthy, Natasha too. "I think we both might be mad," Fury stated, disbelief etched across his face.

"JARVIS," he called suddenly, "show me the security footage of this morning."

* * *

Maria sighed, waiting outside of the SHIELD medical emergency room. Ten different people were being tested right now, and Fury was panicking, actually panicking.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" he roared after watching the security footage JARVIS had shown him. "I spent almost ten years of my life trying to put this team together, and they've transformed into _children!"_

She guessed that he was just frustrated because the Avengers were his pride and joy, and now they were gone. People wouldn't even remember them. Indeed, the superheroes (plus Loki and the three women) had... grown _younger _since they last saw them. Before the medics brought them in, Stark actually looked like he was fifteen years old. Maria was still having trouble believing it herself.

"Agent Hill," one of the doctors called, and Maria immediately stood up and headed to where he stood. The doctor had a grim look on his face. "We don't have any explanations," the doctor apologised.

Maria shook her head. "You got your information - what Loki said. There must be -"

"And Loki said that he didn't know how to reverse the spell," the doctor cut in, sighing. "We can't do magic, ma'am, and to be frank, if Loki didn't know, then we don't have a clue. I'm sorry, Agent Hill, but you're going to wait until they grow up."

"But they're superheroes!" she protested.

"No, Agent Hill; they're children. As far as we can tell, they still have their powers and memories, but they will only be activated over time." The doctor sighed. "I'll send the Director the paperwork." He nodded once to Maria, and walked away.

Maria stood there numbly. This couldn't be. There was no cure, no way to undo the spell. The Avengers would have to live out their lives and over time, SHIELD would be able to recruit them again. She wondered if what Loki said was true, that people would forget - it would definitely save time explaining things to the media.

"Agent Hill?" one of the nurses asked, and Maria turned to look at the nervous girl. "Um, Doctor Banner is awake."

* * *

Bruce was scared.

When he woke up, the first thing he saw were bright, white lights. He was lying on a comfy mattress, with a fluffy pillow. He didn't know where he was, but he knew he was in trouble, because he was always in trouble with his father. It was only a matter of time before his father walked in and decided to shout at him for getting lost.

He hoped that his mother was okay. If anything, Bruce hoped that his mother had sent him here and they had left his father. Or was his father working on the radiation again? Bruce hoped not. When his mother had tried to tell Bruce's father to stop working on the radiation, he hit her. But whatever his mother thought was bad was always bad.

The little boy sat up on the bed and looked around. The room was all white, with a chair beside his bed and - oh no, there were tubes sticking out of his skin. Bruce hated tubes, like when his father used tubes to take some of his blood. He tried to pull them off but someone stopped him before he could. Bruce's eyes snapped up in fear as the woman looked at him.

The woman hesitated, before saying, "Doctor Banner?" Why was she calling Bruce a doctor? He wasn't a doctor. His father's name was Doctor Banner, not Bruce.

When Bruce didn't reply, the woman tried a different approach. "Bruce?"

The little boy didn't reply, and Maria looked sympathetically at the boy. She knew what he had gone through as a child; SHIELD had the records. Little Bruce was probably traumatised. It was really weird to see _the _Doctor Banner, genius scientist, the Hulk, as a little boy, staring up at her with wide, frightened brown eyes. His hair was still curly, but shorter and softer.

"How old are you, Bruce?" she asked him, and the little boy held up four fingers, still staring at her with wide eyes. Maria looked at the IV tube sticking out of the boy's hand, and wondered if the doctor would let her take Bruce somewhere more comforting.

"Agent Hill?" asked one of the nurses, and Maria turned. "Mr Stark and Ms Romanoff are awake."

"I'll be right there," Maria sighed, and gave Bruce a small smile. "I'll be right back, Bruce."

Bruce nodded and slumped against his pillows, hoping he hadn't done anything wrong. But the woman with the blue eyes seemed nice. Hopefully she wouldn't take him back to his father.

Meanwhile, in another room, a boy with messy black hair and striking chocolate eyes was struggling against the nurses trying to hold him down, shouting for his mother. "No! Where's mum?" he kept asking, frowning. "Why am I in a hospital?"

"Your parents are away, Tony," a woman said, and Tony looked up to see a woman with bright blue eyes and black hair like his, tucked into a bun.

"Who are you?" he asked, but stopped struggling. The nurses slowly let go of him and exited the room.

"I'm Agent Hill," the woman said slowly. "Your father's away on business and your mother went along. They left you in our care for the time being."

"Oh," Tony said, sounding dejected. He thought about something for a while, then perked up. "Can I call mum, then?"

Agent Hill smiled apologetically and shook her head. "There's no service where they're at. Don't worry, they've left you with a few friends."

Tony smiled and nodded. "Okay." The little boy fidgeted for a while, then suddenly noticed his ark reactor. "What's this?" he asked, and lifted his shirt, frowning at the reactor and made to unscrew it. Agent Hill quickly stopped him, shaking her head.

"Don't do that, Tony," she said sternly. "It's keeping you alive."

Tony's eyes widened, and he looked back at his reactor. "If I take this out I'll die?" he asked in a small voice, and Agent Hill nodded. "Okay," he said quickly and rolled down his shirt, looking around for something to do.

Maria chuckled a little at Tony's need to observe everything with a childlike wonder; he still had that little sparkle in his eyes, as if he was going to make a television better than that, or create a radio that played AC/DC music all night long.

"Mommy?" a little girl asked, and Maria turned to see a bed next to Tony's, separated by a divider. She pushed it aside, revealing a girl with big, striking green eyes and short red hair. She looked incredibly frightened and like she was about to cry.

"Natasha?" Maria asked softly, and the little girl looked at her with confused eyes.

"Natalia," she said, her lips trembling. "Where's daddy?" Maria racked her brains, trying to remember what had happened to Natasha in the past. That's when it clicked; her parents were killed in a fire, and Natasha obviously remembered that.

"Natash - Natalia," Maria said soothingly, sitting down on the too-large bed, but the girl scrambled away from her, accidentally pulling on her IV string.

"Where's my mommy and daddy?" little Natasha-Natalia asked, her voice trembling.

"I'm sorry, Natalia," Maria sighed, "your parents are dead."

Natasha flinched at Maria's bluntness, and began to cry while Maria soothingly rubbed her back. Tony watched silently, feeling sorry for the girl. She was very pretty, and he liked her weird red hair. He was sad that she didn't have a mum and dad, and made sure that when his parents returned, he'd ask if Natalia could live with them.

"Natalia?" Tony asked from his bed, and the girl looked up, green eyes meeting chocolate. He gave her a small smile and waved. "I'm Tony. You can come and live with me and my mum."

Natalia didn't reply and sniffed, wiping her nose with her hands.

"You're very pretty," Tony said suddenly, and smiled. Natalia looked at him with wide eyes. "Can we be friends?"

Natalia sniffed again but nodded. "Okay."

Maria held back a laugh as she watched the interchange. If Romanoff knew Stark was innocently hitting on her, she'd hit him. She decided that it was time to talk to the other kids, and left the two children together as Tony started talking to Natasha about the dog his aunt had just got.

She walked out the door to find Fury outside, talking to one of the doctors with distress clear on his face. He spotted Maria and walked towards her, posed to ask a question.

"There isn't a cure," Maria cut in before he could ask, and he groaned in frustration. She felt sorry for him; he had worked so hard to put the Avengers together, and now he had to wait another eighteen or so years for them to be able to handle responsibility again.

"This is bullshit," Fury growled. "Who the hell is going to take care of them?"

Maria frowned as she had forgotten about considering that. Who was going to take care of the Avengers? Putting them up for adoption wasn't an option. Maria certainly had no time to take them in, and she knew Fury wouldn't be able to cope with running SHIELD _and _taking care of a bunch of kids. "We'll have to divide responsibilities," she decided, and looked to Fury, who sighed and nodded.

"Keep them in Stark Tower," he said, "I'm going to call a few old friends."

* * *

An hour later, all the kids were awake and restless in their hospital rooms. They had all woken up in rooms shared with someone else, except Bruce, who SHIELD medics were worried would cause problems with his Hulk state. Loki and Thor were the only ones who already knew each other, Betty, Pepper and Jane had chatted happily with each other, Tony had actually distracted Natasha and gotten her to talk more, and Steve was quiet but polite, trying to talk to Clint who kept asking for his brother Barney.

Fury got them moved to Stark Tower, and after another hour, the entire fiftieth floor was equipped with ten beds in two separate rooms; one for the boys, and one for the girls. There were also countless DVDs stacked in a cupboard, of all Disney movies. Clothes ranging from 3 years old (Loki looked rather small, along with Jane and Betty), to five (Thor was huge) were delivered to the Tower.

The kids were all scattered around the room; Tony was talking to anybody who would listen while Natasha followed him wherever he went, Bruce was sitting quietly in a corner while Jane was trying to get him to play with her, Pepper was playing dress-up with Betty, Thor was jumping around and was constantly hungry, Loki was shapeshifting into different types of cats and Steve and Clint were playing soldiers with each other, Clint accepting that his brother wasn't around and was looking up to Steve in a big-brother way.

Fury had called in Hank Pym and his wife Janet, saying that there was a situation at Stark Tower. Little did they know that he wanted them to move in and care for ten children. Of course, when Hank found out, he put up a great fuss.

"I can't be taking care of these kids, half of them were my colleagues," he hissed at Fury, pointing at Bruce and Tony.

"I wish I could take your consideration into account, but I can't, Pym," Fury snarled back. "I'm at a loss with what to do with them."

"They get along pretty well," Janet observed, smiling at Steve who was looking at the adults and frowning. "We'd just have to feed them and take them out once in a while."

"Yes," Fury said, spreading his arms out to Janet in a 'thank you' sort of motion. "We'll get other people in to help you as well. You'd just have to live here, and Stark has lots of labs downstairs for you to keep working, Pym."

Janet looked at her husband with wide eyes. She had always wanted kids, but was incapable of giving birth. This was the perfect opportunity to settle down with Hank, and he knew it.

He sighed and caved. "Okay."

Fury sighed in relief. "I'll get all your things sent over by tonight," he said enthusiastically, sounding not at all like Fury. "Thank you, Janet, Hank."

The couple stared in bewilderment at Fury's use of their first names, and looked at the kids who used to be the Avengers (and a few normal people). "This better be worth it, Janet," Hank muttered before he put on a large smile and introduced himself to the kids.


	3. Moving In

**Hi, so since I can't exactly write out their whole childhood (it would take _ages, _and I'm sorry, but I don't have the time!), and I'm itching to get to their teenaged years because that's where all the fun begins, I've begun to write one-shots of each character and their personality, and their maturity as they grow older. I'm not sure how many chapters it will take up, because I want to write long chapters for you guys so you don't get disappointed when I'm taking a while to update. **

**This doesn't start until chapter 5, though; it was just a heads-up! Thank you for the new reviews, you have no idea how excited I get when I open up my email and it says that I have a new review. Thanks, guys!**

* * *

Steve looked around his new home.

He didn't know what he was doing here, but he knew it was better than his real home. His dad drank a lot, and his mum had a bad temper. Steve really hated that house and always wanted to go out and play with the kids outside, but nobody liked Steve, so Steve stayed at home. Usually he liked to draw or colour, but he always wanted to play with someone else. Now, with all the other kids around, he was shy.

He didn't know how to behave around people his age. Steve looked at the loudest boy, Tony Stark. He didn't know who Tony was, but he was rich and very smart. The other boy, Bruce, was very smart too, but he didn't like to talk to Steve.

"Steve?" a voice asked, and Steve turned to see Clint staring up at him with wide eyes. Steve felt very sad for Clint because his parents died when he was very young, and he didn't remember them. Clint had a big brother, but he wasn't here right now, so Steve promised him that he'd be his big brother and take care of him.

"Yeah, Clint?" Steve asked, trying to look friendly. Steve wasn't very good at talking to other kids, but he was going to try. Maybe Tony could teach him how, because Tony could talk to anybody.

"Who are those people?" Clint asked, pointing towards the woman who was with the boy named Bruce, and a man who was trying to work the DVD player.

"They're taking care of us," Steve shrugged. "Their names are Janet and Hank, I think."

Clint looked a bit scared. "Are they going to hurt us?" he asked in a small voice, and Steve frowned.

"No, they're nice people," he explained, but Clint still looked scared. "It's okay, Clint, I'll protect you," he said firmly, pulling the boy in for a hug. Clint was slightly younger than Steve, because when Steve had asked him how old he was, Clint said he just turned four, but Steve was almost five in two months, which makes him bigger than Clint. Steve didn't know if Clint liked hugging, but he saw some of the other boys do it a few times, so he decided to just hug Clint. Clint hugged Steve back, and Steve felt happy that he had made a friend.

"Come on," Steve encouraged after he stepped back, "let's go make some friends."

He held out his hand to Clint, who took it immediately, and they both decided to make friends with another loud boy, who had blonde hair like Steve, but his was a bit longer. The boy was quite big, and was fighting with an imaginary friend.

"And then, brother, I will hunt down all the frost giants and slay them one by one, just like father did!" the boy shouted happily and sat down next to a smaller boy with black hair and green eyes. The little boy nodded, looking up to the bigger boy.

Steve took a deep breath; he hoped that the two boys would like him and want to be friends with him, but he's never actually made a friend before except for Clint. "Hi!" he said brightly, smiling like Tony Stark smiles when he talks to other people. "I'm Steve, and this is Clint. Wanna be friends?"

The blonde boy inspected the two of them for a while, and grinned. "Of course! I am Thor Odinson, and this is my brother, Loki," he said in a powerful voice for his age, but he looked friendly enough. Steve looked at Loki, who was staring at Clint blankly. "I hope we will eat soon," Thor continued, "I am famished!"

Clint frowned, stepping forward a bit. "What does that mean?" he asked Thor.

"It means that I am very hungry," Thor laughed. "Do you want to help me defeat Jotunheim?"

Steve frowned this time. "What's that?"

Thor gasped loudly and looked to his brother, who smiled toothily and turned into a blue baby giant. "Whoa!" Clint gasped, his initial shyness gone. "That's so cool!"

Loki turned back into a boy again and looked at Thor, who smiled at him proudly. Loki looked incredibly pleased of himself and they all started playing together, defeating the frost giants who were in fact, pillows.

After the third time defeating the frost giants, Thor was starving. He was stomping around the floor, yelling, "Food! Food! Food!" while the woman, Janet, quickly gathered everyone to sit on the dining table and brought out a huge plate of nuggets, chips and macaroni. Steve happily dug in, as he didn't really get much food at home, and so did Clint.

* * *

Janet didn't know what to think as the little Avengers and Loki, Jane, Betty and Pepper sat around the table, happily eating their food. It took a bit of coaxing to get Loki to eat, since he was stubbornly refusing to eat any Midgardian food, insisting to get the cook to make something else. Janet remembered what Loki had done to Earth, but the Avengers (when they were adults, anyway) had accepted and forgiven him, so she should stop thinking of him as an evil god. Bruce was quiet but he talked to Jane a lot, who turned out to be incredibly friendly and nice. At least there were a lot of them, so they could socialise well.

It had been quiet with her and her husband since their last encounter with New York's superheroes, when Ant Man and the Wasp were brought in to take down another god, claiming to be Hades (who knew Greek mythology existed too?). Hades had tried to take down the earth by unleashing his child, the kraken. It had taken a while, but eventually the Avengers, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, plus a few others such as Janet and Hank, had defeated the monster and the god retreated.

But now she was stuck with ten children, and would probably have to raise them for a few years before letting them go their own separate ways. Fury had been against putting them up for adoption, saying that it would be easier for them to grow up together and be able to trust each other instead of being separated, which she had agreed with. Janet was quite close to the Avengers, and she knew that in the start, they didn't really trust each other well enough. Hank grumbled about the whole ordeal. Janet didn't know what Hank wanted to achieve anyway; he had completed his research on the Pym particles, and both Janet and Hank had agreed that they were too old to keep being superheroes, so what better to do than to raise more superheroes?

"Peter Parker told me that he'll come over on Sunday and babysit," Hank told her, walking out of the study and into the kitchen. He kissed the top of Janet's head, and they both watched the kids who used to be their teammates together.

Surprisingly, Jane was becoming quick friends with everyone due to her socialising skills and sweetness. Janet didn't know the woman well, but she was nice enough, and it paid off; she was getting Bruce to talk more, which was an achievement considering what had happened in Bruce's past. She sat next to Bruce and Pepper, asking questions and chattering away. As a child, Jane had brown eyes that always scrunched up because she laughed too much, and her wavy brown hair looked very fine, hanging on her shoulders. Janet smiled at the little Pepper next to her, who was now talking about the new school her mum had sent her to, her usually straight orange hair hanging in slight waves. She was a sweet little girl; when Janet had talked to her earlier, the girl was very polite and a little shy.

Betty sat next to Pepper, shyly looking around. When she caught Janet looking at her, she quickly looked back down and picked at her food. Janet shrugged it off, knowing that as an adult, Betty was reserved but friendly, and it was only a matter of time before she warmed up to everyone. The little girl had a chip hanging off a strand of her silky black hair and she looked around the place curiously. If there was one thing that Betty did, she asked a lot of questions about where she was, what day it was, and where her dad was.

Janet shifted her gaze along the table, landing on Loki, who was sitting next to Betty. He looked to be about three, and kept putting more food onto Betty's plate when she wasn't looking. He'd giggle whenever she looked back on her plate and frowned, trying to remember when she had decided to eat more. Next to Loki was Thor, who was entirely focused on his food. Whenever he finished his plate, he'd shout to no one in particular, "I need more sustenance!" and proceed to put more food on his plate. Janet found it incredibly funny.

Tony and Natasha sat together, and as far as Janet knew, they had been glued together since the medics discharged them from the medical ward. She smiled; their friendship as adults were complicated, but over the years, they had grown extremely close, and even as children they managed to stay best friends. Tony was aiming another nugget at Steve, who looked annoyed. "Stop throwing food around, Tony!" Hank called, but Tony merely stuck out his tongue and continued throwing. Clint was sitting next to Steve and Natasha, and looked like he was trying hard not to laugh at Steve. Natasha was snorting, her mouth full.

After dinner, the kids settled down to watch a movie. Hank put in Toy Story, and kept imitating Buzz Lightyear, making the kids roll around laughing. Sometime during the movie Thor had gotten bored, so he snuck up on the sofa and jumped on the older man, landing on him with a playful roar. Tony, Steve and Pepper had joined in, laughing as Hank fell against the ground with an "oof!" while they tickled him.

Bruce, Betty and Loki were the only ones who found the movie entertaining; Jane had invited Natasha and Clint to play the no laughing game, where they'd take turns doing something funny, and the other two had to try not to laugh. So far, Clint was trying desperately not to laugh as Natasha impersonated a chicken. Jane had already lost; she was rolling on the ground with laughter.

"Alright, kiddos!" Janet called out after the credits rolled. "Time to go to bed!" All of them moaned, save for Bruce, Betty and Loki, who were blinking sleepily.

"But I wanna play!" protested Tony, and the others protested in agreement. Clint, Jane and Natasha were still secretly poking each other, holding back their laughter.

Hank got up, looking exhausted. "Sorry guys, but Hank's too tired to play right now. How about you guys go to sleep, then tomorrow we'll take you swimming?"

The kids cheered and nodded, while Thor frowned. "Swimming? But we will drown!" he protested, and Janet started laughing.

Natasha didn't want to go to sleep. Whenever she went to sleep, she'd always remember the fire and her parents' screams of help. She'd always remember hiding under her bed and trying to get away from the heat.

She tiptoed, looking around for Tony. Tony said that he would be with her, but where was he? Everyone was walking down the hall, and Natasha began to cry. She wanted Tony.

She felt someone grab her hand and looked up, seeing Tony's face smiling at her. "You didn't think I'd leave you, right?" he asked, and Natasha shook her head, tears streaking down her face. Tony pulled her in for a hug and walked the direction everyone else was walking. "You can sleep with me tonight," he told her. Natasha nodded, instantly feeling better. It would be better with Tony beside her.

There were two doors, and Tony walked in with Natasha into the room with the boys. Thor was jumping on his bed and Loki kept tripping him, Steve looked lost and Clint was standing beside Steve, looking just as lost.

The man, Hank, walked into the room and dimmed the lights. "Alright guys, bed time," he announced, and everyone picked a bed, sliding under the covers. Natasha looked around; there were only six beds, and all the boys had taken them.

She frowned at Steve, who's bed was next to Tony. "Move," she ordered, and Hank was reminded of the older Natasha for a moment. Steve refused to budge and turned to face Clint, who was on the bed beside him.

"You can sleep with me," Tony offered, and Natasha smiled a dimpled smile as he moved to make room for her. She climbed into the bed, snuggling closer to Tony.

"Natasha, why don't you sleep with the girls?" Hank asked when it was Tony and Natasha's turn to be tucked in.

Natasha shook her head firmly. "I want to sleep here with Tony," she said stubbornly, and Hank chuckled.

"Alright," he said quietly - snores could already be heard in the room. He made sure the blankets were covering both Tony and Natasha and made to leave, before Natasha caught his arm.

"Hank?" she asked, her big green eyes staring up at him. Tony frowned sleepily. "Why do you call me Natasha? My name is Natalia."

Hank paused for a while, wondering what to say, before kneeling beside the bed to be at the same level as the little girl. "Well, it's a secret, but do you want to know?" Natasha nodded eagerly. "I know you as a big girl, and you called yourself Natasha."

"Really?" Natasha asked, her eyes wide and eager to be just like the big girl Hank had mentioned.

"Really." Hank smiled softly, feeling his heart melt a bit at the innocence of the Black Widow. Now that Natasha was having a second chance at life, he was determined not to let her make the same mistakes she had made before joining SHIELD. He made a promise to himself to make sure that Natasha never went through the trauma he had read about on her SHIELD file this time.

He left the room, but not before hearing the small interchange between the two friends.

"Tony?"

"Hmm?"

"Call me Natasha."

* * *

The next day, Clint was woken up by Loki throwing a pillow at him. Loki grinned cheekily before jumping on Steve's bed and throwing a pillow at him, and Steve fell off. "Hey!" Steve yelled, rubbing his eyes grouchily. Clint giggled and made to help Steve up, and noticed Tony and Natasha curled up together, still sleeping. Clint hesitantly poked Tony's arm and the boy yawned, opening his eyes.

"Tony?" Clint asked. "Is Tasha your girlfriend?" he wondered, unable to pronounce her full name.

Tony considered it, looking at the yawning Natasha, and nodded. "Yeah, Natasha is my girlfriend!"

Natasha's eyes immediately snapped open and she frowned. "No I'm not!" she protested. "We're friends!"

"No; you're my girlfriend, and I'm your boyfriend!" Tony grinned, fully awake now. Steve turned at that, his mouth open.

Bruce woke up at the sound of the shouting, rubbing his eyes.

"But Bucky once told me that to be girlfriend and boyfriend, you need to kiss and hug each other!" Steve said, shuddering. "I don't want to kiss a girl!"

"You've got a girlfriend?" Bruce asked, looking alarmed. Tony started laughing.

"Tony's not my boyfriend!" Natasha complained, looking very embarrassed.

"Yes I am!" Tony laughed, and to prove his point, he planted a kiss on Natasha's cheek.

Thor started laughing while Steve covered his eyes, yelling "ewww!" Clint watched with wide eyes, frowning at the interchange.

"Tony!" Natasha protested, her face as red as her hair. Tony looked proud of himself.

"Why can't you be my girlfriend?" Tony asked, hugging Natasha. "You're really pretty, and I'm handsome, and dad says to always get the pretty ones to be your girlfriend. And I did!" he said proudly. Natasha huffed, trying to push him away while Thor and Steve kept chanting, "Tony has a girlfriend!"

The door burst open and the four girls came running in. "Hi, guys!" Jane said happily, clad in her bunny pyjamas.

"Hi, Jane," Thor replied in the same tone, and Jane beamed at him.

"Guess what?" Clint asked, his reservedness now forgotten. He pointed at Tony and Natasha, "Tony and Tasha are married!"

"Ew!" both Tony and Natasha said at the same time.

"Dad said being married is different from having a girlfriend!" Tony informed Clint, and Clint nodded, taking in the new information. He turned to the girls, who were giggling and whispering. "What he means is that Natasha is my girlfriend and I am her boyfriend!" he announced loudly, and Natasha covered her face with her hands.

Pepper and Jane both scrunched up their faces, yelling, "Ew!" Betty's mouth dropped open; she remembered once when her cousin Sarah told her about her boyfriend. She had looked so happy and smiled all the time, and Betty remembered wanting to have a boyfriend. She felt a little jealous of Natasha.

"So are you going to do boyfriend and girlfriend stuff?" Betty asked with wide eyes, and Tony frowned.

"Like what?" he asked, confused.

"Well," Betty began, looking around to see everyone staring at her with curiosity. "My cousin Sarah said that when her boyfriend asked her -"

"Ask her?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, you need to ask someone if they want to be your girlfriend or not," Betty said, sounding confused. "Didn't Tony ask you?"

"No," Natasha grinned. "I'm not your girlfriend!" she shouted happily, but Tony looked sad.

"Why don't you want to be my girlfriend?" he asked Natasha, looking at her with puppy dog eyes.

She just shook her head.

Tony turned back to Betty. "How do I ask her?" he asked blankly, but this time, Pepper replied.

"Well my Aunt Jess said that you just need to be nice to her and be sweet, and then ask her after that."

Tony frowned before looking at Natasha, who shook her head. "You'll never get me to be your girlfriend, Tony!" Natasha giggled, and jumped off the bed, deciding to play with the girls for a while.

Before Tony could think of anything, Hank walked into the room, grinning. "Hey, kiddos!" he said. "Let's go swimming!" Everyone cheered and ran out of the room, and Tony forgot all about his problem as he ran out of the room with the other kids.

* * *

Slowly, Bruce found himself warming up to everybody. The day they had told him that his mother wasn't going to be able to see him anymore, he had locked himself up in his room and cried for three hours. (Janet had been really surprised that Bruce didn't Hulk out, but Hank looked into it and realised that his - and the rest of them - abilities hadn't been activated yet.) Jane had actually waited outside the door, and when the others realised she didn't want to play with them, they decided to all gather outside the door and make a 'I hope you feel better Bruce' card, which all of them had left a little message on. When Bruce finally came out, they all jumped on him and had a huge group hug, making Janet and Hank smile at how much they cared about Bruce.

Unsurprisingly, after they had broken it down to Tony, Betty, Pepper and Jane that they wouldn't ever see their parents, the three of them shed their own tears as well. But surprisingly, they had gotten over it pretty quickly. Thor and Loki were probably going to get a visit from Odin soon, or rather, Sif and the Warriors Three, as Odin frequently sent them to Earth to check on Thor and Loki. Steve didn't really care; by the looks of it, he never really loved his parents and was happy to get a new family.

Jane was happy to see Bruce finally talking more and playing more, and laughing more, because he looked really cute when he laughed. She once told him that and he blushed, looking away. Bruce was a shy boy, but Jane knew lots of shy boys in school and she made friends with them easily enough. She made friends with everybody, and was happy about it. She liked Tony; although he was loud and sometimes it seemed like he didn't want to talk about anyone but himself, he was fun to play with and he was really smart, like Jane. Tony also liked building stuff, like when he built a circuit and showed it to Hank, who looked really impressed.

Jane really liked Loki because he liked looking at stars, just like her. They'd always be looking through the bookshelf for books about planets and stars, and Loki told her about his planet and all the different names of planets and stars that he knew. For a three-year-old (but he insisted that he was turning four soon), Loki was really smart. They even made nicknames for people and named them after stars (Thor always looked really confused whenever Loki and Jane would giggle about the Ursa Major).

Steve was a really nice boy - whenever someone started crying (especially Clint), Steve would always be there to comfort them. Once, when Jane tripped and scraped her knee, Steve had helped her up and sat her down, asked Janet for a band-aid and placed it carefully on her knee. He was also really fun to play with and told them the best stories about Captain America (Janet had been alarmed that they remembered Captain America, and when she googled Captain America lots of searches came up. The media remembered him too, but just assumed he was still under the ice. Hank couldn't explain that one).

Jane also played a lot with Clint, who was slowly easing away from Steve's side. It turned out, Clint was really funny. He liked making everyone laugh and he liked sitting on top of lamps, saying that he wanted to be a bird. Natasha was a bit hard to make friends with, because she hardly talked, but Jane managed it, and also helped Natasha make friends with Betty and Pepper, who loved dancing whenever Hank put the iPod on. Jane giggled whenever Tony decided to talk about himself, because soon after that Pepper would twist his words around and everyone would end up laughing at Tony. Tony usually got offended by that and refused to talk to anyone except for Natasha, but he came around eventually.

Thor was a really loud and agressive boy, but he was actually really sweet. He thought that Jane was very pretty, and wasn't scared to tell her. Jane liked telling him about the stars and planets she knew about, and he'd tell her about the Asgardian legends and talk to her about horses that had eight legs and singing frogs, and that always made her laugh. Everything that Thor did made her laugh, because he didn't behave normally and it didn't seem like he was ever going to be normal, but he was okay with it. He told Jane that one day when he becomes king, she will be her queen, and she beamed because who didn't want to be a queen?

The next week, Sif and Frigga, the queen of Asgard herself had shown up and demanded to see Thor and Loki. Sif had told the adults that Heimdall had seen Thor and Loki in their child-forms, and had told the queen immediately. Since the best sorcerer in Asgard had been Loki, they didn't know how to turn the kids back, but had wanted Thor and Loki to come with them back to Asgard. Both the siblings had thrown a huge fit and refused to go home, so in the end, Frigga relented and let them stay in 'Midgard'.

A man named Peter Parker dropped by often enough and all of them would be so excited whenever he did. Well, mostly because he had this sticky web and could hang them to the ceiling and they'd feel like they were flying. Plus, he loved playing hide and seek with them (well, he would hide somewhere on the ceiling and they would have to find him) and tag. He was also really smart, and Bruce looked up to him in awe when he told the boy that he worked in an actual lab. Sometimes he would bring his girlfriend Gwen along, and the girls loved her because she'd always tell them embarrassing things about Peter. She knew how to play the guitar, and once when Peter and Gwen slept over, she brought her guitar and they spent the night singing their favourite songs. Gwen was actually really surprised when Clint's voice rose above the others and he hit a really high note with the perfect combination of vibrato and soprano, and got him to sing a few other songs for her, which made the others jealous and try to sing better than him.

Two months after they were turned into children, all the Avengers, Loki, Betty, Pepper, Jane and Peter were all gathered around the chair where Gwen sat, singing another song on her guitar. Hank and Janet were out enjoying a night to themselves for once, and Peter and Gwen had volunteered to stay the night. The kids were very excited; the girls plus Clint begged Gwen to bring her guitar (the boys said that singing was for girls, but secretly they wanted Gwen to bring the guitar too) and they had all prepared their favourite songs to ask Gwen to sing. Gwen and Peter both decided to just drag mattresses out to the living room so they could all sleep together, since the rooms weren't big enough to accomodate ten plus two adults.

"That was nice, Gwen," Peter complimented after Gwen had finished singing a soothing song to the kids. They all looked quite tired now and were yawning and blinking sleepily.

Gwen smiled at Peter, "Thanks. Let's get them tucked in."

"Alright, kiddos," Peter called out softly, "bed time."

Nobody complained and they all snuggled up to each other, falling asleep instantly. Peter and Gwen watched with smiles on their faces.

"It's just really weird to think that three months ago, we were all doing missions together," Peter murmured, sitting by Gwen and planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"Yeah," Gwen agreed. "And I was helping Pepper plan her anniversary dinner with Tony."

"It's weird," Peter repeated. "But it's kinda nice thinking that they'll be able to grow up together."

Gwen detected a hint of envy in Peter's voice, and remembered his childhood. He had always been the odd one out, and very lonely at times. And when Fury had first recruited him into the Avengers Peter had been very distrusting of all of them. "Hey," Gwen protested softly, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at her. "What's past is past." She kissed him softly on the lips, and felt his pleased sigh as he pulled back and smiled at her.

"I really do love you, Gwen Stacy," he chuckled softly, leaning his forehead against hers. She hummed in contentment, pecking him on the lips again before snuggling into his chest.

"I love you too," she replied, closing her eyes. The last thing she felt before drifting off to sleep was Peter's hands stroking her hair.


	4. Settling

**So sorry for not updating! When I started this I was on half term break, but now I'm back at school, and it's tough because it's GCSE year, and yeah. Had lots of tests, plus it was Halloween on Wednesday. Oh yeah, Happy late Halloween, guys!**

**So this one has quite a lot of fluff, with something I didn't actually plan on writing at the end - but I did anyway, because Peter and Gwen are too adorable :') Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

After three months, Odin finally visited.

The reason for his late arrival was because Asgard was trying to come up with a counter-spell - and was failing. Fury and Agent Hill also found themselves forgetting why the Avengers were kids (it frustrated them to no ends), and couldn't supply enough details, which was slowing the process down. The security footage of the fight had been deleted; the spell was working, although none of them knew it. Pretty soon, nobody even remembered the Executioner, save for Heimdall, who saw everything.

Odin had met briefly with Thor and Loki, telling them to behave well and listen to Hank and Janet. He didn't decide to take Loki and Thor back (Janet and Hank were both quite relieved about that; they had grown attached to the Asgardian siblings), but had met with Janet, Hank, Fury and Maria in one of the SHIELD conference rooms to talk about the spell and its consequences.

"I have found their memories locked in these," Odin said to them, holding a complicated-looking chest with what must be Asgardian calligraphy on them. "My people call it the chest of mysteries - in short, it is where all failed spells lie. It has not been used for a long time, which explains why these memories have overtaken the other spells in the chest." He held it out to Fury, who took it and opened it. Inside the chest were ten glowing blue balls of energy, each enclosed in a golden chain. Fury was shocked to find that the names of the Avengers (and the others who had been de-aged) had each been written on the different chains, identifying the memories to their owner.

"I don't understand," Janet said, confused.

Odin smiled kindly and continued on. "Each of the children's memories are enclosed in each energy sphere. They will receive snippets of their life; I would not be surprised if my sons would remember their heritage, and if your comrades would remember their aliases. However their true lives will be held in these spheres unless the owner of these memories are to touch them. You could keep the truth from them, or reveal it - it is your wish. However, if you decide to, I suggest that you reveal these memories to them when they come of age. I believe that some of your comrades have been injected with a formula - this will be activated over time, as well as the green man's power."

"We could train them for SHIELD," Fury murmured thoughtfully. Janet shot a glare at Fury, knowing that he would want to train all of them to be SHIELD's little soldiers. If she could, she wouldn't allow it - they deserved to have their memories back.

"I will leave my sons to your care, unless they are a burden," Odin said, directing the last part of his sentence to Janet and Hank, who both quickly shook their heads.

"We'd be happy to take care of them," Hank assured him. Janet smiled; just a few months ago, he had been completely against raising ten children.

"Thank you," Odin said graciously, "Thor's involvement in Midgard had changed him for the better - I fear that if they are raised in Asgard, the same mistakes regarding Loki and Thor would be made. I do not wish that."

After the meeting, Fury had told SHIELD agents to keep the chest secured and away from prying eyes.

"You can't tell them about their lives," Fury insisted to Janet and Hank, who were protesting. "At least, not until they turn eighteen. It will be their choice if they want their memories back."

Despite the unfairness of it all, they agreed.

* * *

The children were getting on very well with each other. Because of their similar ages (nobody could explain that, since they had all been at very different ages before they were hit by the spell), the team (as Hank liked to call them) spent all of their time together. They liked going to the park and the zoo, and generally doing physical activities - especially the former Avengers. The powerless girls - Betty and Jane - usually stuck to each other and behaved like four to five-year-old girls would normally behave (tea parties, dress up, Disney Channel and dance classes). Pepper was more mature, and used her time to read or mother the other two. Natasha was more of a tomboy; she had gotten some of her old traits and was very flexible, and loved playing games that involved spy work or missions. Peter had stopped by again and entertained them by putting on the newest _Mission: Impossible _movie, and Natasha and Clint had been fascinated by it. They'd always be climbing around vents, playing shooting games (Clint had pin-point accuracy, which scared Hank) and sneaking around.

Clint usually spent most of his time with Steve and Natasha; Steve because he treated Clint like a younger brother and Natasha because... they had similar personalities. Sometimes Steve would ask them to play war against the Nazis, and they'd be Captain America's back-up and fight Thor and Loki, who didn't care that the Nazis were bad guys. Steve spent most of his time playing video games, surprisingly. He liked playing the war games and the racing games, which Tony would always join him at. Tony talked to everyone, was loud, and boisterous; he loved running around naked and causing trouble in general. Loki was more of a sneaky-troubler-causer, and often shape-shifted to scare people.

Bruce was a pretty peaceful boy. He liked solving puzzles and talking to Jane, since she was always trying to get him to talk more. He was shy around Betty, who was shy around Bruce in return. Thor loved to eat and his first words of the day were usually, "I'm hungry." All in all, they were getting on well and occupied most of their time together, letting Janet and Hank have their peace.

Since the girls had liked dancing so much, Janet had signed them up for ballet classes - Natasha had been enthusiastic to go as well after she watched _Step Up: Revolution. _She had signed the boys up for more physical activities, like football and tennis, which Steve, Clint and Thor really enjoyed. Tony was usually just lazy, Loki didn't really enjoy sports and Bruce couldn't get too worked up, or he'd have really serious anger problems (although his Hulk 'ability' hadn't activated yet).

They had also gotten into the tradition of story-telling every night, and each night someone would have to tell a story (Pepper had organised it, of course). The stories ranged from giant scorpion monsters (Thor) to super-cool robots (Tony) to a prince and princess getting married (Betty). Hank and Janet often stayed awake to listen to the stories, and they weren't half bad at all for four-year-olds.

* * *

Their first Halloween was six months after they were turned.

All ten of them had been excited for the idea to dress up and go trick-or-treating, especially Clint, Natasha, Thor, Steve, Bruce and Loki, who probably hadn't ever been trick-or-treating. They had put serious thought into planing their costumes. Of course, they could be anything they wanted since the money Tony had earned as an adult was still around and he could probably afford anything for the next seven years or so.

"I want to be a soldier!" Steve had whispered excitedly. They were all gathered in the girls' room after Hank and Janet had tucked them in, and being out after hours seemed very exciting and scary. They all huddled around the four girls' beds (Natasha had finally detached herself from sleeping in Tony's bed, although sometimes she would sneak back to sleep with him), the only light source being the dim night light by Betty's bed.

"I want to be a Storm Trooper," Tony said firmly.

"But Storm Troopers are bad!" Jane whispered, shocked.

Tony shrugged. "They're cool."

"I like Jedi," Loki said. "I like their swords."

"They're called light-sabers, Loki," Pepper laughed quietly. "I know what I'm gonna be," she said decisively. "I'm gonna be Wonder Woman."

Everyone gasped. "That's so cool Pepper!" Tony said in awe. Pepper beamed.

"I'm gonna be a princess," Betty sighed dreamily. Clint scoffed loudly; it was so predictable.

"That's for pansies," dismissed Clint, and Betty glared at him. "_I'm _gonna be Legolas."

Natasha laughed quietly at that. Clint really loved the archer when they watched _The Lord of the Rings _on one of their movie nights with Hank and Janet.

"What are you going to be, Bruce?" Betty asked shyly, and Bruce was deep in thought for a while.

"Harry Potter," he responded, and Jane clapped. She really liked the boy wizard and his adventures at Hogwarts.

"Ooh! I'll be Hermione," Jane decided, grinning happily at Bruce.

Thor and Natasha were left. Thor didn't know what he was going to be; he thought being himself was epic enough, but everyone insisted on him dressing up. Natasha, however, had gotten her idea.

"Catwoman," Natasha grinned gleefully. Peter and Gwen had taken them out to watch _Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, _and they had all agreed that the movie was amazing. Natasha particularly liked Selina Kyle, who liked wearing black and was really good at fighting. Natasha liked anybody who liked black and was good at fighting.

"I would like to be a king," Thor said, "just like my father said I would be one day. Betty can be my queen!" Betty blushed but nodded shyly, and Thor beamed.

They told Hank and Janet about their costume ideas the next day, and by Friday (Halloween was on Saturday), the costumes were delivered. Apparently Howard Stark had been around to invent the stuff that Tony had invented when he was an adult, and had only died recently - but the costume shop didn't ask; they were just happy that the Stark Tower had ordered so many costumes online.

Saturday came and Janet made sure to take lots of pictures of the kids. Thor and Betty looked adorable in their king-queen costumes, and Janet had them pose together most of the time. She paired Bruce and Jane together too, who were going as Harry and Hermione, and Loki and Tony, who were both dressed as characters from Star Wars.

Peter and Gwen had volunteered to take them trick-or-treating, and they had shown up at the door as Sandy and Danny from _Grease. _Hank had a good laugh at Peter in skin-tight pants, and they all journeyed to Queens, to Peter's neighbourhood, for trick-or-treating. They had been quite good, considering Peter and Gwen had to take care of ten kids in costumes surrounded by other kids in costumes, but they managed to stick together, save for the time when Thor and Betty had wandered off to someone's golden-painted home and demanded to rule their kingdom.

"Bruce! Look, it's Ron Weasley!" Jane had yelled at one point, pointing at a kid who looked like a terrified deer caught in the headlights when she yelled. Both she and Bruce had become very excited and tried to get the kid to join them, but he had been intimidated by Tony the Storm Trooper that he had just run away.

After the night ended, Peter and Gwen had a hard time bringing them back to Stark Tower, so they all crashed in Peter's house. Aunt May didn't mind and let them sleep in the living room, and brought down pillows and blankets for them. Peter decided to scare them by telling them scary stories about vampires, while Gwen told him not to be cruel (they were all a bit shaken after that), but it was worth it: when they didn't want to go to sleep, Peter threatened to call the vampires, and they all immediately curled up into their blankets and closed their eyes.

"You are so mean!" Gwen whispered-scolded, slapping Peter on the arm as he snickered evilly. He could still see that Loki was still awake; his eyes were shut too tightly, and his hand was almost pulling off Thor's arm.

"See?" Gwen gestured towards Loki quietly, careful not to wake him. "If they have nightmares, it's all your fault."

"They've battled the Chitauri and the kraken before," Peter dismissed. "Vampires won't bother them."

Gwen scoffed and Loki finally gave up on trying to sleep and approached her with scared eyes. She wordlessly held her arms out and he crawled into them as she lay down on the mattress. Peter had a hard time believing that this was the same boy that let the Chitauri loose on Manhattan, but as he watched Gwen sing him to sleep, he decided that Loki wasn't really that bad at all.

* * *

Their first Christmas had been eventful. Everyone was dressed in red, green and white, except for Natasha, who refused to wear anything but red. Their floor had been decorated with lavish Christmas decorations and Christmas music played softly through the speakers.

"Wake up!" Pepper shouted at eight sharp in the morning, ever the event organiser. She jumped on Jane's bed and threw a pillow at Natasha; Betty was already awake and blinking sleepily, sitting up on her bed. Jane moaned, rolling over in her bed and covering her head with her pillow. "Merry Christmas!" Pepper cheered, and continued to shake Jane while Natasha sat up.

Natasha never celebrated Christmas before. Before her parents had died in the fire, they didn't really celebrate Christmas. They were a poor family, and could never afford to buy each other presents. She was excited to be able to spend her first Christmas with her new family.

"Merry Christmas," Betty smiled, getting up and making her bed. Jane had finally gotten up, and they were planning to wake the boys up. Usually the boys would wake up before them, but they had all slept late last night, watching _The Christmas Carol. _Natasha got off and made her bed messily before grinning and running to the boys' room across the girls'.

She burst into the room, running to the end of the room where Tony was fast asleep. She was excited to be spending Christmas with him, especially since he told her that they would each be getting presents, but the kids (which meant them) didn't need to get each other presents because they didn't have money. She was still excited to see what Peter, Hank, Janet and Gwen had gotten her though, and Gwen had also said that she was bringing her guitar so they could sing Christmas Carols.

"Merry Christmas, Tony!" Natasha yelled excitedly, jumping onto Tony's bed. He shouted in fright and fell off the bed with an "oof!", and Natasha started giggling as the other girls bounded into the room and started waking the boys up. Thor literally jumped out of his bed with a cheer and a fist pump, yelling, "Breakfast!"

"Ow, Tasha," Tony pouted as he emerged from his position where he fell off, rubbing his head. Natasha stuck her tongue out at him and proceeded to jump on top of Steve, who yelped and rolled off the bed before she could land on him.

"Merry Christmas, Tasha," Steve grinned as he looked up at her from the floor, his hair messy and ruffled. Clint quickly got up and made sure that Natasha knew that he was awake before giving her a hug for the holiday.

Once everyone was awake, they all ran into the living room where the huge, colourful Christmas tree stood, bearing their presents underneath it. Natasha ran forward with glee, holding both Tony and Clint's hands in each of her own and dragging them along with her. She looked through the presents until she found a colourful wrapped one with her name on it, and she smiled widely before tearing it open.

She gasped. Inside the box lay a pair of simple black ballet shoes. She tried them on; they fit perfectly. She giggled and kept them on, looking at the card for who it was from: Janet and Hank.

Clint shouted a loud, "Whoa!" when he uncovered his present; a mini bow and arrow in purple and black. "This is so cool!" he cheered, stringing the arrow into the bow and shooting it, where it pierced the Christmas star on top of the tree.

Hank and Janet woke up to shouting and screaming. They walked out, eyes wide at the sight in front of them; the kids had opened all of their presents. Thor was probably the only quiet one, who was happily chomping on his lifetime supply of pop tarts. The rest of the kids were scattered around; Natasha was dressed in the bodysuit Peter had gotten for her, and dancing around in her ballet shoes, looking like a graceful assassin. Betty was happy with her princess gown and her tiara, and Jane was bouncing with joy at her floating solar system. Loki looked happy playing with his Asgardian lego pieces, and Bruce looked like he was going to explode with excitement as he set up his mini chemistry set. A blunt arrow came flying towards Hank, sticking itself on his forehead. Hank glared at his wife, "I'm gonna kill Peter."

Peter and Gwen arrived for lunch and they all sat down to eat some Christmas lunch, which consisted of a large turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce that Hank was proud to say that he made (Janet just rolled her eyes; he had spent all of last night on the cranberry sauce while she prepared everything else). The kids were happily chomping on their turkey, and finished before everyone else, demanding Gwen to take out her guitar and sing some carols.

"Alright kids!" she smiled after finishing her lunch, "Who's going to sing the first song?"

"ME!" A bunch of hands shot up, and Gwen felt like some sort of clown who performed at kids parties. She closed her eyes and pointed randomly, landing on Thor, who shot up, grinning.

"I found this song on the pad for eyes!" he proclaimed, and Janet choked on her turkey. Thor grinned and began to sing loudly about wanting a hippopotamus for Christmas, which made the other children roll around in laughter. Gwen then began singing _We Wish You A Merry Christmas _with Steve and Pepper, who were shouting out the lyrics.

After some renditions of _Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Frosty the Snowman, Deck the Halls _and _Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, _Gwen decided to sing _Baby, It's Cold Outside, _which she dragged Peter in for. The kids laughed at his sorry attempt to sing the male part, and he went out of his way to humour them, shouting the lyrics while Gwen laughed along with him.

"You suck, Peter!" Tony yelled, pointing at him. Peter feigned hurt and turned away, pretending to wipe a tear off his cheek while Gwen shot Tony an over-exaggerated look of disbelief. The girls (even Natasha) immediately came to Peter's side, pulling him in for a hug and telling him that Tony was mean. Tony looked quite guilty after that, which amused Hank to no ends.

The day was filled with Christmas movies, Christmas charades (Loki made it too easy for everyone with his shape-shifting) and their day out in the snow, where everyone lied down making snow angels while Janet screamed at them that it wasn't clean.

At the end of the day, everyone was exhausted. Tony was already asleep (next to Natasha, of course) in his Iron Man pajamas, and Steve was clutching a Captain America shield pillow. They were all curled up by the fire, while Peter and Gwen of course, sat by as Hank and Janet were out having their own celebration.

"Gwen," Peter said suddenly, "do you ever think of us? In the future, I mean."

Gwen paused thoughtfully, intertwining her fingers with his as they both curled up in a blanket facing the fire. "Yeah," she murmured. "A lot of the time, actually."

"Then if I ask you to marry me, will you say yes?"

She lifted her head off Peter's shoulder, staring in shock at the little wrapped up box he held out. He smiled cheekily, offering it to her.

"I got you two presents," he grinned as she shook it.

"I thought we agreed to get each other one!" she protested, although her heart rate was increasing, her fingers slipping below the wrapper. Was this what she thought it was?

Peter watched silently and nervously, biting his lip. He wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing, but he and Gwen had lasted this long without her getting in serious danger, and he shouldn't delay this any longer. He watched as she delicately tore the wrapping, her breath hitching as she uncovered a red velvet box.

"Peter," she gasped, staring at the box, then turning to look at him with wide (but happy, he noted) eyes. "I -"

He smoothly took the box from her, kneeling on one knee in front of her although she was sitting down and they were at the same level. Her eyes shone with unshed tears, and she was smiling. He thought that she hasn't ever looked this beautiful, but then realised that she was beautiful all the time.

"We've been through a lot," he began, looking deep into her blue eyes. "From the Lizard to Osborn to Venom, and even to MJ -" Gwen laughed quietly at the memory of Peter's short infatuation with the redhead, "- but you stuck with me, even when I thought you shouldn't. You went through everything with me since high school," he said softly, "since junior year. Do you remember when we first met? You were mad that I got 100% for Chem and you got 98%."

"Two marks!" she protested lightly, chuckling.

"Who cares?" he rolled his eyes, but grinned anyway. "And I remember that first night, and how special it was, and I realised just how much I wanted you in my life, and wake up with you everyday, and tell you how much I love you."

"I love you too," Gwen replied, smiling softly. "So much."

"I know," Peter laughed quietly, looking around at the sleeping kids. "And since this situation we've been put in - taking care of the kids who are supposed to be so much older than us - it got me thinking. We're good at this, at being parents. We could be good at a family."

Gwen nodded silently, unable to wipe the smile off her face.

"Which is why you have the honour of becoming my wife," Peter concluded, grinning - he could never be serious for more than a few moments. Gwen snorted and slapped him lightly on the arm.

"You completely ruined the moment," she chastised.

Peter grinned at her, and whispered dramatically, "I think you should say yes."

"What, at being married to you?" she asked playfully, although the words made her heart soar with joy.

He sighed dramatically, and took her hand in his, the other opening the box that held a simple, yet beautiful, diamond ring. "Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy, will you marry me?"

"Yes," she breathed, letting him slide the ring on her finger and engulfed him in a huge hug. Peter couldn't believe it as he hugged her back, closing his eyes and just reveling in her. He did it. He proposed to her. She was going to be his wife, and he was going to be her husband. A few years ago he would have cringed at being tied down, but he had been with Gwen for so long that he knew that he absolutely wanted this.

She pulled back and kissed him deeply, leaning her forehead against his. "Too bad we can't go any further," he breathed, and she laughed softly, leaning into his chest.

* * *

**ASDFGHJKL, are they not adorable? :') My Peter and Gwen. I honestly don't like Peter with MJ, like no. Gwen and Peter belong together, and I'll be sure to include their wedding in a few chapters! Review!**


	5. The Underdogs

**Oh look, I've decided to add in some character studies! Well, actually I'm just writing in the POV of the kids who I haven't written properly yet. I've already written in Tony's, Natasha's, Steve's, Bruce's and Jane's POV, and I think I'm going to skip Thor because he's pretty easy to figure out. Besides, writing kid!Thor is boring - I'm basing him off my brother, who just loves eating and he just doesn't give no fucks about what anybody thinks about him and about anybody's feelings; he does what he wants and says what he wants. **

**But keep in mind that this will last for two chapters max (at this age, of course - and probably once more when they're a little more mature) - my main focuses are on Tony and Natasha's POVs, as they are my two listed characters on the thingy. But it's nice to have some variety, right?**

* * *

_Five, _**Pepper.**

* * *

Pepper was getting along well. She didn't understand why her parents had given her away, but she didn't mind - growing up, Pepper's parents hadn't really cared about her. They just told her to be responsible, study hard and get a good job. There was no, _Congratulations, Pepper! _whenever she got a star in class or _I love you, sweetie. _They just didn't care; it was simple as that.

Never once in her life had she felt like she belonged. Yeah, she was only five and her life really hadn't been that long, but her five-year-old mind was more complex than Bruce's and Natasha's combined. It allowed her to be mature, and to see things in a more practical way. Her parents had raised her to be like that; they said that it was the type of mind needed to do business. And even though Pepper didn't really have a choice when it came to her parents' wishes for her, she _did _agree on the job choice. The newspapers and news broadcasts were interesting, and when she had told her parents' about the brief summary of World War Two the teacher had told them about in school (_"It was America, Britain, France and Russia all against Germany because Germany had Hitler, and Hitler killed Jews, which is very bad, kids, very bad."_), they had told her that it was so much more than that, and politics were always involved in history. And since Pepper absorbed information like a sponge, she understood why America wanted isolation and didn't want to help Europe.

"Pepper, come on, it's your turn!" Jane smiled widely, gesturing to the chair in the middle of the living room. The lights were dimmed and everyone, including Janet and Hank, were gathered around the chair; it was their weekly story time and all Pepper heard from Loki and Betty were Asgardian bedtime stories and a princess finding her prince.

She stood up and crisply walked to the chair in the middle of the room, sitting up straight on it (her mother had told her, that if you want to be successful, you have to _behave _successful). And she knew that her friends would want to hear about simple stories that had happy endings and a fight sequence. But Pepper didn't want to tell a story that she knew wouldn't _ever _happen, so she told them the simplified version of Hitler and his takeover of Europe in the 1940s. Steve and Natasha were frowning, everyone else was listening to her still-complex (World War Two couldn't really be simplified) "story", and Hank and Janet both listened with shocked looks on their faces, as if they didn't believe that she knew this much.

"Did they ever beat Hitler?" Clint asked, his eyes wide with interest.

Pepper smiled, because she would be able to give him a happy ending. "Yes."

* * *

She was playing finger painting with Bruce one day when he asked her a question.

"Pepper? Why do you always act like a grown up?"

Pepper frowned, looking up from her drawing of the globe. "My parents told me to," she said simply, sounding confused.

"But your parents aren't here anymore," Bruce said bluntly, drawing something big and green on the sheet of paper. "You don't need to do what they say."

He went to wash his hands then, but Pepper stayed, thinking deeply about what Bruce just said. He was right - she _didn't _need to please her parents. She didn't need to sit down and read a book in a corner while her friends were playing tag, and she didn't need to always be polite, and she didn't need to not believe in fairytales. Most kids wanted to be adults, but Pepper had been an adult since she first learned to talk, and she had enough, thank you.

So she dipped her finger in the paint and slowly began to draw an angel.

* * *

"You're it!" Steve laughed, tagging Pepper and running away from her quickly. They were out in the park, and Janet and Hank were sitting by the benches, watching them as they ran around. They were all playing, and it wasn't chaotic since they were the only ones in the park.

Pepper looked around her mischievously, planning who to run after as they all backed away from her, giggling. She knew Loki wasn't an option: he could disappear, and she'd take ages to catch him. Her eyes finally landed on Tony, who was sitting on top of the slide with his back to her. She could easily creep up to him and tag him.

She edged her way closer to Tony, and heard the giggling sounds of everyone behind her, awaiting Tony's reaction. She climbed onto the playground, and quickly shot her hand out. "You're it!" she shouted gleefully, laughing.

Tony turned to look at her and frowned. "Go away, I'm trying to build my circuit."

"But Tony, you were playing just now."

"I don't want to play anymore. Playing is for babies. I want to build my circuit like a grown up."

Pepper turned around to see everyone shrugging and continuing the game without them. Natasha looked a little hesitant, as if she wanted to ask Tony to join them, but relented and turned to play with everyone else. "Why do you want to be a grown up?" Pepper asked Tony, sitting beside him as he tried using different materials to conduct electricity.

"Because it's fun," he frowned, looking at Pepper weirdly.

Pepper watched him fiddle with his circuit for a bit, trying to think of something to say to Tony. She didn't really know him well, and while most kids would just babble and become friends, she was a bit less trusting. She couldn't help it; she had been raised this way, and if she was the same girl before Bruce had talked to her, she would have just let Tony do his own thing. But she didn't want to let Tony have a wrong impression about growing up.

"No it's not," Pepper said quietly, and something about her tone made Tony look up with his big brown eyes. "You have to take care of yourself, and make dinner yourself, and live by yourself. And you don't get to play and get away with stealing someone's shoes - people won't take you seriously. And yeah, you need to be serious all the time. The world's a big place, and there's a lot of people who can do things better than you, and you have to work hard all the time to be the best. So it's not fun at all," she finished.

Tony studied her with a look she wasn't familiar with (if she was a little older, she'd understand that it was admiration). "Okay," he said simply, and pushed his circuit aside. He grinned playfully at her before tagging her and quickly sliding down the slide.

"Hey - that wasn't fair!"

* * *

_Six, _**Clint.**

* * *

There was not much that Clint could remember of his earlier years. Granted, it was expected, as he had been four when he was brought in by SHIELD to stay with Hank, Janet and the rest of his friends. He never actually thought about his past anyway, because every time he closed his eyes and tried to remember his parents, he would be met with thoughts of tires screeching and a piercing scream, and then silence. Clint hated that.

The one thing he did remember, though, was Barney. Clint didn't know where Barney was, and when he asked Janet and Hank and Mister Fury about him, they said they didn't know where Barney had disappeared to, too. But they said that he was safe and Clint didn't need to worry, so he didn't.

Clint didn't have Pepper's or Tony's or Jane's or Bruce's brain, but he was quick and agile, and sharp; once, when Janet had dropped her mug of coffee, Clint easily dove to retrieve it and handed it back to her, with not a single drop spilt. It was after these events that he would catch Janet and Hank whispering to each other intensely, but he never asked about it.

He loved Steve, though. He didn't remember much before four, (because honestly, who does?), and Steve had always been a constant in his life. The little blonde boy was always by Clint's side, eating lunch with him and playing with him and talking about Batman with him. And sometimes when Peter told them ghost stories, Steve would make room for Clint to climb into bed with him and they'd just sleep comfortably together until morning. He was like Barney, except Barney wasn't here for Clint anymore.

Clint wasn't one for schematics. He didn't have a particular talent, apart from pin-point accuracy for target shooting, but he did have a sarcastic mouth, even at six. Most of what he did was interact with everyone. He loved spending time with Natasha, because Natasha liked crawling in vents with him and pretending to be spies. He also thought she was very pretty, but he never told her because he was too shy.

He liked Loki as well, because Loki was funny and he could do the best pranks in the world. Plus, Loki had magic, which was really cool. Tony liked playing pranks as well, so sometimes Tony would make a complicated but effective plan to trick Betty into opening the pink sparkly box and receive a fright as a spider crawled out of it. Clint would plant it there, and Loki would turn himself into a spider, and Betty would scream so loud and they'd all end up laughing on the ground.

It was one night after Peter and stopped by again and Gwen had stayed home (they had married and Gwen was pregnant), and he told scary stories because Thor and Loki were "brave enough", and everyone else had gotten scared. They didn't sleep in the living room together that night, and without the others close to him, Clint felt really scared. So he picked up his pillow with a printed archer set on it, and tiptoed from his bed to Steve's.

"Steve?" he whispered. "Are you awake?"

"Huh?" Steve mumbled sleepily, and Clint could see his blonde tuft of hair peeking out of the blanket, bathed in a soft blue glow from the moonlight. Steve opened his eyes and rubbed them. "Clint?" he asked groggily.

"I'm scared," Clint admitted softly, looking down. Surely Steve would laugh at him for being a scaredy cat, but no. The blonde boy shifted in his bed, making room for Clint in his red, blue and white bed, and Clint climbed in hurriedly, pulling the blankets up to his chin.

"Go to sleep, Clint," he heard Steve mutter from beside him, and shifted his feet a little bit away from the former's to make sure he didn't bother him that much. Clint sighed and closed his eyes, soon dreaming of alien invasions and becoming superheroes, and nothing about vampires.

* * *

It was Clint's sixth birthday, and Janet and Hank (well, actually just Janet) had planned a huge party for him, although most of the people invited were adults; safety reasons. (Kids didn't really put their trust into each other, and Hank had wanted to avoid having to deal with kids' parents asking for directions to Stark Tower, because the kids were growing up to be _superheroes, _for God's sakes, and they couldn't just reveal their future base. Besides, technically nobody remembered Iron Man and therefore didn't know that Tony had revealed his identity, so they were going to try to keep him from doing so for as long as possible. Plus, the kids didn't really have that many friends anyway.)

They had thrown a Batman party for him, which really excited Clint. He had woken up in the morning with Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Thor, Loki, Betty, Pepper, Tony and Jane crowded around his bed, shouting, "Happy birthday, Clint!" They proceeded to bring him to the kitchen where they cooked breakfast, because Janet didn't let them bring breakfast to him. They had all made him a card as well, and Natasha had even given into kissing him on the cheek, which he accepted gleefully (Tony had frowned and said that he was the only one allowed to kiss Natasha because he was her boyfriend, something that he held onto since two years ago).

They were having lunch when Hank wrapped a cloth around Clint's little head, obscuring his eyes from view. "We've got a little surprise for you, buddy," he heard the older man say into his ear, and heard the soft giggles of his family as Hank hoisted him up and carried him somewhere, although Clint could tell by the elevator floor and the hollowness of the room that they were in the ballroom.

Hank suddenly ripped off the cloth from his eyes, and Clint blinked before his gaze was set upon a black and yellow coloured room. Mechanical bats flew around, and the whole room was dimmed to emphasize the Batman-ness of it all. There was a long table with batarangs and masks all around, each one varying from Catwoman or the Joker.

Clint gasped in excitement as Hank gave him a black cape and a Batman mask to put on. He had watched the movies and the series on Cartoon Network and Gwen had given him some of her old comics to read, which included Harley Quinn and the Joker, and Harvey Dent and Selina Kyle. Janet had also gotten him a Batman videogame and he played it everyday. Clint loved Batman.

Steve grinned and they all gathered into a group hug, squeezing Clint tightly. He laughed and squirmed out of their grip, jumping in front of the mirror and laughing in glee at his Batman suit. SHIELD, as a customary apology (as well as reminder) that they would be putting the weight of the world on these young group of children in the future, had gifted it to Clint for his birthday. The suit was full black, and looked very realistic; the belt, armour and mask were hard and durable and they even gave him some safely tested Batman weapons. Needless to say, Clint was jumping with joy.

"Happy Birthday, Clint!"

* * *

_Seven, _**Loki.**

* * *

When Loki was brought to Midgard, he didn't remember much of his past. All he remembered was that his father, Odin ruler of Asgard, had brought him and his brother here so that they would be able to become better people.

He mixed around well with everyone, and was glad that he got as much attention as Thor did. He remembered that much, at least: that Thor was always superior to him because of his size and strength, because even as a five-year-old, Thor was strong. But they didn't care about strength here in Midgard; they cared about compassion and brains and reaching your full potential, and Loki liked that.

His memories were unusual. He had asked Thor if he had dreams about frost giants and a frozen Heimdall, but his brother had replied with a dismissive "no". Loki didn't want to ask the others, because for some strange reason, he was very secretive. Even he didn't understand why he didn't confide much in others, other than causing mischief and playing in their games in general. It confused Loki because at some times, he remembered that he despised Thor. He remembered betraying his brother and father, and falling into an abyss darker than the part of Asgard which doesn't touch the light. And then he'd snap out of those memories and wonder why he had remembered that when he was clearly only seven human years, and the memories he had involved Thor being a full-grown god, and how could they be memories if they hadn't happened yet?

Yes, he was only seven human years, but Loki's mind was sharp. It was puzzling, but in Asgard, the aging process is quite slow, and Loki would have only turned seven in a few hundred years. Something about being in Midgard sped it up.

Loki remembered the usual Asgardian customs, he remembered Sif and Sigyn, the two girls that he and Thor would play with. He remembered the majestic-ness of it all, and he remembered his father's throne. But although Loki remembered a lot of things, he didn't dare ask the human guardians, Janet or Hank, about it because - he didn't know.

So Loki emerged himself in astronomy. He loved to study the stars, and look at picture books of Midgard's solar system. When he didn't find Asgard, Loki merely coloured it in and stuck it into the book. Jane had found out about his infatuation and chattered on about the different satellites around Jupiter, grinning widely when Loki informed her about something she didn't know. She was probably the only girl that Loki got along well with, because all the boys got along fine, but Pepper and Natasha were distant, and Betty was just shy.

But although Loki was distant, Thor was always there. He was very protective of Loki, always making sure that he was okay and comforting him whenever he had another nightmare. Loki appreciated it all the same.

* * *

It was Loki's first day of Midgardian school, and he was standing at the entrance of the building. It wasn't much; a field to play sports, a playground and two levels inside of different classrooms. Loki knew because Janet had held his hand and walked through the school, introducing Loki to everything. He was the only one in his year amongst the ten children, and although it was quite intimidating, Loki had remembered that he was a god and they were merely humans.

He tried to stride confidently throughout the school, but when two boys had mocked his attire he started to cry. They were being very mean and unjust, and Loki had always hated people who behaved superior to him. It wasn't right.

Loki sat inside the classroom while the teacher tried to arrange everyone in their seats, completely forgetting that he was crying. He sat quietly, rocking on his heels and thinking about how much he _hated _school, when Thor burst through the door.

"Who dares disturb my brother?" he boomed loudly (because Thor always boomed), and his eyes landed on the terrified boy that had mocked Loki. He strode over to the boy, landing a neat punch against his jaw while the teacher gasped and tried to pull Thor away. But the blow had successfully taken the Midgardian boy down, and Thor was satisfied, choosing to head over to Loki.

"Would you like to return home?" he asked softly, and Loki nodded timidly, wiping the tears from his eyes. "It will be alright, brother," Thor said firmly, pulling Loki up and walking out of the school, ignoring the teacher's shouts of telling them to come back. "We shall ask Janet and Hank to move you up to the others' year. It is not as if they are more clever than you."

Loki grinned, forgetting the boy's mockery, and nodded. "That's true."

Thor laughed loudly as they reached the bus stop where the other Avengers were waiting for him. "Very true indeed, brother."

* * *

_Eight, _**Betty.**

* * *

Being probably the only normal girl out of the group of people she was stuck with turned out to be quite hard for Betty.

They were all extraordinary in their own ways. Tony was a genius, with Bruce, Jane and Loki tying for second; Steve was a compassionate but natural born leader; Thor was strong and everyone listened to him; Pepper was the neat, organised junior entrepreneur; Natasha was skilled at martial arts and cunning; and Clint was a better archer than his archery coach, which was saying a lot.

Betty was brought up as a normal girl. Her parents loved her, she was smart enough and she had a loving family, from what she could remember of them. But sometimes, she just wanted to feel like the rest of them. To have some sort of power over some division.

She was the dancer (second to Natasha), the princess, the _girl. _Jane at least was incredibly friendly, but Betty was shy and although she was sweet, the boys never included her in their games because she'd always be the clumsiest and mess things up. Betty had a brain, but she had to work harder than everyone else because she wasn't a born-mastermind, and she did well in her class tests because she worked for it. And she had this compassion that certainly shadowed Steve's.

Betty certainly felt like she fit in, because everyone needed their own princess in their house. But that didn't stop her from sometimes feeling left out, and although Jane spent most of her time with her, at least Jane was comfortable with everyone in the room while Betty was only really comfortable with Steve, Bruce, Jane and Pepper.

One night, when they were all sitting around watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Voldemort is telling Harry to kill Bellatrix, Thor speaks.

"Why does he not kill her?" he asked loudly, frowning. "She has killed his godfather. Surely he wants revenge?"

Tony merely shrugged, and Natasha, who sat beside him, answered. "She's needed in the other movies, to make the plot interesting," she dismissed, dropping a popcorn in Tony's mouth.

Betty frowned at that, shaking her head. "No, it's not just that," she argues, "Harry knows it's the wrong thing to kill her."

Thor scoffed. "She killed his godfather!" he repeated obviously.

"But life isn't all about killing and revenge," she clarified. "Even though Harry never forgave her, he knows it's wrong to kill someone else. He has to be better than her, and even though he hates it, he has to let her live because he can't bring himself down to Voldemort's level."

Betty turned to find Janet looking at her strangely.

"What?" she asked blankly.

"Nothing," Janet said quickly, looking a little bit impressed as she turned to Thor. "Betty's right. Harry needs to be better than the enemy. Killing is not an option."

And although Betty didn't know it at the time, that's the reason why, in the future, killing is a last resort.

* * *

**Oh my god, how long has it been? I promise to add more Tony/Natasha in the next chapter, and I'm sorry I didn't update! The next chapter will probs be two weeks from now, because I have my motherfucking mocks! Wish me luck!**


	6. Growing

_Twelve._

* * *

Over the years, they had grown impeccably close. But it soon came the day all parents dreaded: the day their kid hit puberty.

It had been eight years since the ten adults had been turned into kids. Over that time, they went to school, all passing through elementary and starting middle school. Of course, Thor wasn't Hank or Janet's kid, but he was close. It was sometime during the summer when Thor had suddenly woken up with his normal cry of, "Food!" and it had come out all deep and manly. It didn't help that he grew so now he was five foot three. Tony had also started _noticing _the girls, and Hank had to make sure he actually went to his own room every night instead of going to Natasha and Pepper's.

They had moved to the sixty-fifth floor, where there were over seven rooms, and two could take up each room. Pepper and Natasha shared a room. Bruce and Tony shared one, and the others were Loki and Thor, Betty and Jane, and Clint and Steve. Pepper, who had recently turned twelve, had grown a lot, and was the only one who started developing breasts, was Tony's most recent obsession. He had already dated a few girls for a twelve-year-old, and had lost his first kiss to a girl two years older than him. Janet and Hank knew that he was already going to be trouble, and were mentally preparing themselves for the chaos about to ensue.

Jane gathered her books from her locker as the school bell rang. She had just gotten out of advanced chemistry with Tony, who she was beginning to find really annoying. She had known him since she was four, and she had never seen him act so... arrogant and cocky. He flirted with all the girls and would be failing his subjects had he not been a genius. She sighed and put her books into her bag, slamming her locker shut.

Middle school was tough, she could give you that. It wasn't easy going like elementary, and Jane was expecting that, but she still missed elementary and their fun PE lessons. She walked through the hallways, seeing Thor walk into the hallway with his jock friends. She smiled and waved, seeing him wave back. He had grown so much over the summer and now towered over her. His hair had also grown a lot and was messy and unstyled; but it suited him, somehow. He said bye to his surfer-dude looking friends and jogged over to where Jane stood waiting for him.

"Hey," he said, easily falling into step beside her as she walked in the direction for her next class. "Josh just told me that they're having an assembly next period, so no classes!" he cheered. Jane, however, looked distraught.

"What?" she gasped, groaning in frustration. Her next class was drama, which she had with Betty and Clint (Clint didn't want to do drama, but during middle school, you couldn't choose your subjects). "We were going to play a new game today!" she pouted, pushing her brown straight hair out of her face.

Thor shrugged. "I'm about to have English, so I am cool with it." Jane laughed at his use of 'cool'. No matter how hard he tried, Thor couldn't master 'Midgardian' English like Loki could.

"Don't worry; you're trying," Jane patted his muscly arm, and he grinned at her.

"Guess what?" Betty asked, appearing out of nowhere and joining the two. Of course, after spending eight years with them, she had gotten over her shyness with the boys. She laughed, her blue eyes sparkling and her her straight, silky black hair swaying in the ponytail she put it in. "Jeremy just asked Pepper out, and what's worse - in front of Tony!"

Thor laughed while Jane gasped. "What?" she exclaimed, starting to laugh as well.

"Was he jealous?" Thor asked, amused.

Betty quirked an eyebrow at him and nodded at him as if the answer was obvious. "Tony just stepped up and said, 'She's taken'. How cute is that?" she squealed.

Jane rolled her eyes at Betty's excitement. "It's not cute; he only likes her because she has - um, that," she finished awkwardly, blushing a little while Thor coughed and looked away.

Betty cleared her throat awkwardly. "Um, yeah," she muttered, "but she said no anyway. So no harm done."

"Hm," Jane nodded. Thor had nonchalantly draped his arm over her shoulder, and she smiled as her stomach did backflips. Jane would never admit it to anyone, but she liked Thor. He was - to put it bluntly - hot, and he had always been sweet to her growing up. And he thought she was pretty, and he was really cute. She hoped that what Bruce had told her about Thor wasn't true - that he had kissed that Andie girl during a pool party one of the jocks threw.

Betty noticed them getting close, and cleared her throat pointedly at the two. Jane blushed and made to pull away, but Thor didn't take his arm off her. Betty laughed. "I see where you're going with that," she laughed, shaking her head fondly at the two. "I'm going to go look for Steve. See you guys!"

After the assembly (where Thor and Jane had sat together, his arm around her again), they all met up for lunch. Loki, who used to be really short, had grown quite a lot, although not as tall as Steve and Thor. His sleek, black hair had turned a tanned brown due to exposure to the sunlight, and he walked through the middle school halls with ease. Although he was a year younger than everyone, he had managed to make it into seventh grade because of his intelligence level. Of course, Tony was way ahead of everyone too, and should have skipped at least two grades, but from the sound of it, in his "past life" he was unhappy in school because he was always the youngest, and Janet and Hank wanted to avoid that. Loki was happy to be with his friends, especially Clint, who he had a lot of classes with. Clint made everything hilarious, and they came up with the best pranks for the teacher together.

Loki knew that he wasn't from Earth, and he remembered some parts of Asgard, like the policies and basic ground rules, and they were so different from the ones in Midgard. He knew that he was a god because Fury had told them when they turned ten what happened to them (leaving out the retrieving their memories part), and everyone was really excited about being a superhero. Loki averted his eyes from the 'seniors of middle school' who were lip-locking by a locker. He found it disgusting; in Asgard, you only kissed a lady if you wanted to court her.

"Hi, Loki," Bruce greeted as Loki passed by his locker. Bruce's curly hair had grown more manageable over the years, and he always dressed smart, with a purple button up shirt and jeans. He slammed it shut and followed Loki, making their way to the cafeteria for lunch. "Gwen told me that she's dropping by today," he said conversationally, and Loki grinned. He liked Gwen.

"Do you think Clint's going to start singing again?" Loki snickered, and Bruce laughed. Clint actually had a decent voice, and showed off to Natasha by singing her favourite songs. He had told the boys about his crush ages ago, but it was getting too obvious.

"I think it's a miracle that Tasha still doesn't know," Bruce commented.

"Tasha doesn't know what?" asked a voice, and Natasha herself fell into step next to Loki. Her curly red hair had grown to shoulder-length, and her green eyes looked bright and alert; a sign that she probably just had a good work-out, though she didn't look sweaty, but then again, Natasha never looked sweaty.

"That Tony likes Pepper," Loki lied smoothly, and Bruce nodded quickly. Tony had never given them restrictions on who to tell, so the boys assumed it was safe to tell Tasha.

Natasha scoffed. "That's old news," she dismissed, turning to the direction of the cafeteria. She stood in front of the line and took a tray, peeking over a student's shoulder to see the food offered today. "Mashed potatoes," she grinned, "Thor's going to love this."

"Indeed!" a voice boomed behind them, and Natasha turned to see Thor grab a tray for himself, standing behind Jane as she lined up behind Loki. Natasha craned her neck to look for the others.

"They're already there," Pepper said, coming out of nowhere and smoothly stepping in between Bruce and Natasha.

"Hey!" Bruce protested, but Pepper raised her eyebrows, flicking her strawberry-red hair out of the way and fixed him a look. "Okay," Bruce relented, letting her cut in front of him.

"McArthur's really getting on my nerves," Pepper rolled her eyes, talking about their Math teacher, the one class Pepper and Natasha shared. Natasha gave her an apologetic smile; Pepper hated Math.

After Natasha, Pepper, Loki, Bruce, Thor and Jane had gotten their lunch, they made their way to the back of the cafeteria, where Tony, Steve, Betty and Clint were already sitting. Clint smiled at Natasha and gestured for her to sit next to him, which she did. Tony held back rolling his eyes; Clint was so ridiculously obvious.

"Hey, Pepper," Tony grinned, "like my shirt?" He was sporting an 'I am awesome' shirt, and Pepper rolled her eyes.

"I saw you this morning, Stark," Pepper scoffed, sitting by Natasha and away from Tony. Tony frowned in mock-dismay.

"Sorry, Peps, I'm working on him," Steve apologised for Tony, and flicked Tony on the head. Pepper laughed as Tony protested.

Steve and Tony had grown close, and were like best buddies. Steve was the good-looking athletic guy, and Tony was the witty, also good-looking, flirty genius. They worked well together.

"Were you guys listening during the assembly?" Betty asked excitedly, and rolled her eyes when only Bruce and Pepper nodded. "There's going to be an end-of-semester celebration dance," she informed them, her blue eyes shining very prettily, Bruce noticed. "And we're all going."

"When?" Pepper immediately asked, pulling out her planner to jot down the date. Betty told her the date and she nodded, marking it on her calendar.

Bruce looked reluctant. "I hate dancing," he muttered, tossing a french fry into his mouth.

"At least you know how to dance," Steve mumbled.

"I'll teach you guys," Natasha dismissed, and Betty nodded along with her.

"Pepper," Tony grinned cheekily, leaning back against his chair. "Would you like to -"

"No," Pepper replied.

"Quit it, Stark," Natasha laughed, and Tony winked at her.

"I don't care, we're all going," Betty said firmly.

"Great," Clint sighed.

"Are you guys going to ask anyone?" Loki asked a little uncomfortably. He wasn't good at all with girls.

"Jane and I are going together," Thor proclaimed, settling his arm around Jane's shoulders possessively.

Jane blushed. "Um, yeah," she mumbled.

"Ooh," Tony grinned, leaning forward on the table. "Finally asked her out, eh, Thor?"

Thor looked confused, and Tony decided to just drop it. Betty looked between the two before continuing on.

"It starts at seven, so we'll leave at six-thirty, and Pepper, Jane, Tasha and I are getting ready in the same room - don't look at me like that Tash, you don't have a choice, and boys, make sure you look decent, especially you, Thor..."

* * *

Pepper looked into the mirror.

She was wearing a sleeveless just above the knee blue dress, that one of her school friends had gotten for her for her birthday. Her hair was half-up, half-down, and Betty had made her put on some lip gloss and mascara. She actually looked quite good, and was proud of the visible bump on her chest whereas her friends' chests were flat.

"You look so pretty!" Betty gushed, smiling. "My masterpiece."

Pepper laughed. "You look great too, you know. Bruce is going to faint."

Betty hushed her, not too comfortable discussing her crush on the biology genius. She wore a bright yellow sundress, matching her personality completely. She didn't do anything to her hair, but Pepper thought that her hair was flawless even in the morning. Betty wore light pink lip gloss, and rose-stud earrings.

Natasha emerged from the bathroom, clad in a black dress. She wore some lip gloss and a simple bracelet Tony had given to her. "Where's Jane?" she questioned.

Betty ignored her. "Tasha you look amazing!" she gasped, thrilled.

"Jane went to get a drink," Pepper supplied, and soon enough, Jane walked in, her hair half up, wearing a simple white dress. "Wow," Pepper whistled, while Natasha slipped out of the room.

She crossed the hall and made her way to Tony and Steve's room, as she always did whenever the school held an event. The boys could never get their clothes worn right, and sure enough, when she walked in, Steve's jacket was inside out.

"Ahh!" Steve gasped, covering his body up although he was wearing all of his clothes. Natasha laughed.

"You should've gotten used to this by now, Steve," she chastised, heading over to help him.

"Ah, well," he shrugged off his jacket. "You look nice, Tasha," he complimented as she spun him to face her again, adjusting his collar.

She smiled and smoothed his shirt over, stepping back. He wore a simple black "So do you," she grinned.

"I still don't know how to dance," Steve groaned as he put on his watch, thinking about the dance Betty forced them to go to.

"I'll teach you," she simply shrugged, still smiling.

"Guys!" Betty's voice called from outside. "Time to go!"

As Natasha walked out, Steve smiled softly to himself. "Looking forward to it," he murmured softly.

* * *

**I'm sorry this is shorter than my normal standards, but I'm at my cousin's house after a really hectic December break filled with homework and old friends (my family moved to another country, so during Christmas break we went back home to spend the holidays there and everyone wants to meet up), and I remembered that I desperately need to update this story so I wrote this down. If you guys could send me prompts or ideas of what they should get up to, please review and let me know and I'll see what I can do, because I know where this story is going and I know the EndGames, I'm just not too sure about in between :)**


	7. Conflicts

**SO I haven't updated in a while, so I decided to put this up! A heads up to Kynn on Guest User - I love that story ark, and I think I will use it when they're older! And jeanette9a, that is a brilliant idea! I will definitely put that in! :)**

**I'm once again sorry for not updating, but I can't promise faster updates. My exam timetable has just come out, and I really need to push myself with the studies. Fanfiction comes second, I'm sorry. **

**But on the bright side, I'm free right now, which is why I decided to finish up this chapter and let you guys see it. And yippee, my birthday is on Sunday and I'm sick. Yay.**

**Just to be crystal clear, Thor is one year older than the rest of them, and Loki is one year younger.**

**This chapter is partially based on keepcalmandwrite's suggestion, so thank you for that!**

**Also thank you to Nina Sakurai, who's name I keep seeing on my list of reviews, favourites, and follows. Thank you! :)**

**And thank you all of you for reviewing! Keep it up!**

* * *

_Twelve, _**Tony.**

* * *

Steve, Natasha and Tony walked out of the elevator, laughing their heads off. They had decided to stop for some Krispy Kreme's doughnuts on the way home, and although they had a chauffeur they decided to let everyone else be rid of them (they were all really really tired) and walk home. Tony's shirt was unbuttoned at the top, Steve had lost his tie and Natasha decided not to wear her shoes - and they walked around ten blocks in those positions.

"I cannot believe you still can't dance!" Tony exclaimed, clambering out of the lift, dragging along Natasha, whom he had his arm draped around. "You had the best teacher," he said cheekily, grinning down at her.

Natasha laughed and ducked her head out of modesty; she participated in ballet, hip hop, jazz and salsa. She _was _quite a good dancer.

"It's hopeless, I guess," Steve sighed loudly, and plopped down on the sofa, pretending to cry. Tony snickered.

"What's wrong?" he teased. "Jealous that I spent the night with your date?"

Natasha huffed. "I was _not _his date, you ass." Tony grinned and kissed her cheek as Steve watched on, now completely silent.

"I'm going to bed, guys," he suddenly announced, and immediately gathered his jacket and walked to his and Tony's joint room in quick strides. Natasha frowned as she heard the door slam shut.

"Is he okay?" she asked, worried.

Tony shrugged, and plopped down on the sofa himself, warming himself near the fireplace. Natasha took one last look at Steve's door before joining him and rubbing her hands together against the fire.

"Tonight was fun," Tony said conversationally, shrugging off his jacket and placing it over Natasha's body when she shivered. She smiled in thanks and nodded.

"Yeah, it was," she agreed. "What was wrong with Clint, though? He looked like a drunk giraffe."

Tony laughed at the memory of Clint running around the dance floor, waving his hands in the air. "He was probably trying to impress you," he teased, nudging her softly.

Natasha rolled her eyes and stared at the fire, curled up on the couch. They sat in silence for a while. "I'm sorry you had to see Pepper like that," she murmured suddenly, "I know you really like her."

Tony shrugged. "Nah, she's just hot, that's all -"

She gave him a glare. "Stop denying it, Tony," she snapped, but softened at her next words. "You can trust me - I've been your best friend for years."

He hardened his look a little before sighing and looking down at his hands. "I do like her," he said after a while. "A lot."

Natasha knew there was more to it, but let it go. She leaned against his shoulder and snuggled against him, yawning. "Well then I'm glad I was your date tonight," she said sleepily, closing her eyes.

Tony's neck snapped to the side, looking down on her. She still had mascara on her closed lids, and her lips were slightly pink. Her red hair was, for once, out of her face and he could see the fairness of her skin against the fire light.

What had she meant, _his _date? He hadn't asked her, and he had only meant it jokingly when he teased her about being Steve's date. He was sort of lonely when he watched Natasha trying to teach Steve to dance, but hadn't thought much of it because she spent most of her time with him, being his best friend. But was it _really _that? Or was it something else?

Girls are so confusing sometimes, was his last thought before he leaned against Natasha and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_Thirteen, _**Thor.**

* * *

Thor walked along Central Park with Jane by his side, licking on his ice-cream. It was two days after the dance, where he had officially gone with Jane. They had spent their whole night together, laughing and tripping over their feet. It was one of the best nights of Thor's life.

Why? Well, because of Jane. She looked beautiful, stunning, gorgeous - every word that could describe beauty could have been used to describe Jane last night. Not that she wasn't always beautiful - Thor had always thought her pretty since he was a young boy. So what was it last night that changed everything?

The way she looked at him when he first asked her to dance. She had a glint in her eyes and a small smile, and had never broken eye contact with him from when he kissed her hand to when the music stopped. She was all he could think about after the dance, when he laid awake last night, staring at the ceiling and laughing quietly as he remembered the night. It was just - perfect.

Of course, the rest of them had a blast too. Natasha had actually taught Steve the hand-jive (the DJ decided to treat them to a blast from the past and played songs from the 40's to 90's before settling back with normal 2000's music) - he had taken such a liking to the original _Grease _song and had begged Natasha to teach him. But the rest of the time, Steve had been tripping over his feet and Natasha had ditched him for Tony, who "swept her into his arms" and was a smooth dancer. (Thor had actually caught Steve sulking on one of the banisters as he watched Tony and Natasha dance together, and wondered if anything was going on between the three.) Betty and Pepper had danced most of their night together, and had dragged Bruce and Loki along with them (the two boys were _very _embarrassed; Betty and Pepper were having fun while they were shuffling awkwardly to the beat). Clint was a wild spirit and had spent his whole night on the dance floor, dancing with everyone. It had been really funny to watch.

"Why are you so quiet?" Jane asked, nudging his arm. He stepped off balance just to humour her (he was always perfectly on balance, it was a part of his being a god), and it worked; she laughed, hugging his arm as they walked down the pathway.

Thor shrugged, grinning down at her. "Just thinking," he responded. And it was true; Tony had told him all about the wonders of dating, about asking a girl to be your girlfriend. And it sounded pretty good to Thor, except his nerves were getting the best of him.

"About what?" Jane prodded, smiling up at him. Her chocolate-brown eyes were wide, and she looked at him with a questioning look. Thor gulped.

He knew that this was the perfect moment. Tony had told him to go get ice-cream with her, then talk for a while and take her hand, and ask her the question. It sounded simple, but it sure didn't _feel _simple.

"Thor?" Jane questioned, frowning. "Is everything okay?"

"No - everything is fine, Jane," he sighed, and stopped walking. _Just ask her, _he thought to himself. _You are not courting her, you mindless fool. It is not that serious yet. Just ask her._

"Will you be my girlfriend?" he blurted out, and immediately turned red. Jane's eyebrows shot up and her mouth dropped open while she also turned red. He watched her as her eyes desperately searched his, looking for a trace of doubt.

Just when he was about to apologise and walk away, she took his hands in hers and smiled nervously. "Okay," she agreed lamely, and covered her mouth. "I'm sorry - that was lame - I mean, yeah - no!" she cursed, "I mean, yes, I will be your girlfriend." She finished, and blushed an even deeper red when Thor started laughing.

"Don't laugh," she muttered, embarrassed, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, not meeting his eyes. Thor stopped before, grinning, he tilted her head up and hugged her.

"Thank you!" he boomed, excited. Jane laughed as well and squealed as he spun her in a circle, laughing again and again. He felt ecstatic; like it was the best day of his life.

He set her down, still grinning, before Jane, taking a leap of faith, pulled his head towards hers and planted a short kiss on his lips. This time he felt himself turning red again and she giggled as he stared at her, open mouthed.

"Thanks?" he questioned, still having a look of disbelief on his face. Jane laughed once again before taking his hand and together, they walked back to the Tower.

* * *

_A few years later._

_Fourteen, _**Tony.**

* * *

Tony was quietly reaching for his phone, trying not to move too much in case Loki fell off the couch they were sleeping on. They had come back from yet another school dance, and had come home quite late, so Janet let them crash in the living room together. He clicked on the home button, revealing that it was 3.30AM. He groaned; Tony was always getting up at this hour, and had always felt the feeling that someone was watching them, which usually meant he wouldn't be able to sleep in the next hour or two.

So instead of cuddling next to Loki and asking him to cast a protective enchantment over them, he reflected back on the night.

The dance hadn't gone so well with Tony this time. Natasha, who was usually his partner in crime for all of the dances, was busy dancing with Steve, whom she had (and failed at) taught to dance two years ago at their first school dance as seventh-graders. She had spent almost all of her time with him, talking and teasing Clint and laughing, and while Tony was sulking about his date standing him up (_nobody _stood Tony Stark up!) she had brushed it off and went back to _him. _

It wasn't that Tony was jealous, no. He was just a bit possessive of her. She had been his best friend for as long as he could remember, after all, not _Steve's. _And while Tony liked Steve, he didn't appreciate a bro stealing another bro's best friend. Besides, the last dance they had she had told him that he was her _date. _And he thought dances were their thing, you know? But instead of hanging with him she hung with Steve, since she had ditched him last time, she said.

He looked over to where Natasha lay with Clint, her head resting on his chest, both of them sleeping at a perpendicular position, Clint with a smug smile on his sleeping face. Usually Tony would laugh at them; Clint had developed the biggest crush on Natasha, and usually let her rest her head on his chest whenever he slept. But now he just looked away, feeling oddly angry.

He scanned the area; Bruce was snoring, his head on Betty's stomach, Steve was curled up in a corner, Thor and Jane were cuddling together (as per usual), Pepper was sleeping on the other couch; and finally he met the green eyes of Loki beside him, giving him a questioning look. Tony held back a gasp and nudged Loki with his elbow, sighing. "Don't do that!" he whisper-scolded quietly, not wanting to wake any of them up.

Loki just stared at him. "But it's funny," he whispered back, sniggering.

"Not to me," Tony grumbled, sighing as he leant back against the couch. He was probably going to have to pull an all-nighter, again. He was always having trouble sleeping, and he knew it wasn't healthy, but he couldn't help it. He was an insomniac-maniac.

"Hey, are you okay?" Loki asked, and Tony jumped slightly, thinking that he had gone back to sleep.

"Fine," Tony mumbled, "go to sleep."

Loki frowned, tugging at his duvet. "You go to sleep."

"Don't want to," Tony shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Go to sleep, Loki."

Loki stared at Tony for a little while longer, before shrugging and sitting up properly. He knew that Tony had nightmares at night, and that he had problems sleeping - Loki had the same problem, which was why he was awake as well. And while Tony would never ask for it, Loki knew that the older boy wanted company. "No," Loki shrugged casually, "I think I'll stay up too."

Tony stared at Loki for a while, with an odd look. His expression was one of affection, exasperation and... relief. After a while, he mumbled, "Thanks."

Loki simply nodded and they sat together, looking down on their friends. "What's troubling you?" Loki asked quietly, sensing Tony's foul mood.

Tony frowned. "Just can't sleep, I guess. We all have those nights," Tony pointed out.

Loki shook his head, sighing. "No, I mean why do you keep staring at Tasha? I know that she's your closest friend, yet I fail to see how staring at her will strengthen the bond of your friendship."

The boy in question snorted and shook his head, refusing to answer.

"Fine," Loki said, and they resorted to talking about cars and magic for the rest of the night until Pepper woke up.

* * *

_Fourteen, _**Steve.**

* * *

It was 12am. Everyone was asleep, including Janet and Hank. But Steve couldn't go to sleep - he was too occupied by his thoughts that consisted of a certain curly redhead he had grown up with.

Steve stared at the ceiling, gazing upon the artificial glow-in-the-dark stars Tony had created. They were indeed beautiful; swirling around in different colours and shapes, all forming an orbit of the Milky Way galaxy. He had known that Tony liked artificial stuff, but when he had come back from his swim lesson one day and found the ceiling plastered with beautiful stars, he had come to know that Tony was somewhat a dreamer.

The other boy never talked about it, but Steve knew. He knew that Bruce liked to stay quiet because of his past - his green-rage-monster past. He knew that Clint liked music because it reminded him of happier times. And he knew that Tony liked the stars because his mother in his past life, Maria, had told him stories about the universe.

As he observed the stars, he couldn't help but wonder about Natasha and Tony's friendship. Natasha had told him again and again that it was nothing but platonic, and he believed her, but now he wasn't sure anymore. He could almost hear Tony's sigh as he thought about her.

Wait - that wasn't imaginary. Tony had really sighed. Hesitantly, Steve whispered, "Tony?"

There was a grunt and Tony replied, somewhat surprised. "Steve?" he questioned, and Steve saw his silhouette sitting upright in the bed opposite his. "Why are you awake?"

"Why are _you _awake?" Steve shot back, sitting upright himself. With the only light being Tony's ark reactor, he could see Tony's face clearly.

"Just thinking," came the other boy's reply. There was a silence, before:

"About what?" Steve asked curiously.

"Do you like Natasha?" Tony blurted out at the same time.

They both froze at Tony's question. _Like _Natasha? What did he mean? Steve had of course, grown more affectionate with the girl in question, but he didn't _like _her... did he?"

"Why do you ask?" Steve asked cautiously.

"I - just -" Tony struggled for words. "I'm her best friend," he finished awkwardly, "I should know."

"That doesn't mean -"

"You didn't answer my question."

More silence. Steve saw Tony's expression go from curious to suspicious.

"I don't," Steve said finally, swallowing. But did he really? Did he really just lie to his best friend about a girl?

"Why was that so hard to answer?" Tony asked suspiciously. "If you really didn't, you'd have said so immediately. But you didn't. I can see you hesitating right now. So why don't we skip the embarrassment and say the real truth?"

"You're not Sherlock Holmes, Tony," Steve said irritably.

Tony nodded obviously. "Answer the question," he said firmly.

There was another pause before Steve sighed. "I think I do," he confessed, running a hand through his bed hair. He expected Tony's eyes to soften, for the other boy to help him with this situation. What he didn't expect, was for Tony's expression melting into anger.

"Don't even think about it," he seethed. "Natasha is smart, cunning and manipulative. You two would never match."

"I'm not saying that I'll 'get' with her!" Steve protested incredulously. "What's wrong with you?"

"Just protecting my best friend," Tony replied shortly.

Realisation dawned on Steve. Tony's rigid posture, his clenched fist and carefully controlled expression. "You like her," Steve realised.

Tony scoffed. "Of course I don't," he said dismissively. "I like Pepper."

"You don't behave like this when I mention Pepper," Steve pointed out.

"Well Pepper's not my best friend!" the dark-haired boy hissed.

"Well," Steve said in an icy voice, "it's actually none of your business if I like Natasha or not. And what if I do? You are only _best friends, _after all."

Tony's expression turned threatening. "If you touch her -"

"What are you going to do, invent something to blow me up?" Steve shot back. "You can't take me, Tony; I'm far stronger than you."

"Fury will shoot you if you lay a finger on me," Tony warned him.

Steve laughed, feeling anger bubbling. "Is that what you're going to do - hide behind Fury? The great Tony Stark, who can't even take on Steve Rogers."

"Don't go there, Steve," Tony warned.

"Maybe you'll hide behind Natasha, and she'll realise what an utter coward you are and come running to _me."_

"That's it!" Tony hissed, standing up. Steve stood up too, completely overshadowing him. "You crossed the line, Rogers. As soon as I see you put a _finger _on my Tasha, you're dead."

"Sounds like a date," Steve snarled.

The two ex-friends stared each other down for a moment, before retreating to their own beds. There was a feeling of loss of friendship, but an even stronger feeling of anger to crush the other. The friendship of Steve and Tony was over. (For now.)

* * *

**So, what did you think? Review, review, review!**


	8. Apart

_A few days later..._

* * *

The next few days had been... tense, at most. Steve and Tony weren't talking, which was highly unusual - the two boys shared a close friendship. Everyone wondered what had happened between the two, especially Natasha.

She was close to both Steve and Tony, seeing that Tony was her best friend and Steve was one of _his - _it meant spending a lot of time with him. But instead of sticking to Tony like glue as he had hoped, she switched between comforting Steve _and_ Tony, sneakily trying to get information out of them. She almost succeeded with Steve, too - until he had snapped out of it and called her off for using her 'mind tricks' on him. _  
_

Clint, understandably, sided with Steve on this. It wasn't actually a competition, but it sure felt like one.

* * *

_Fifteen_**.**

* * *

Steve was sitting down on the couch, flicking through TV channels after his long workout, when it happened.

Everyone was busy. Bruce had a project to work on for his science club, so he was downstairs in one of the labs. Jane was with Clint, who was teaching her the wonders of archery. Loki was off unconsciously making girls swoon after him as he debated about environmental awareness. Thor was with Betty and Pepper, working on a project for school. Hank and Janet were out doing stuff for SHIELD. Unfortunately, that only left Tony and Natasha with Steve.

Tony barged into the room, with Natasha hastily scurrying after him. "Tony, don't!" she kept pleading, although it looked half-hearted.

"It's educational," he said, brushing her arm off his and stalking towards Steve, a tablet in his hands. "Hello Steve," he greeted, plopping down on the couch next to him. They had both recovered somewhat from their falling out the year before, but there was always a feeling of contained hatred that would never go away. It was safe to say that they weren't best friends anymore, at least. More like 'frenemies'.

Steve looked at him weirdly. Tony never greeted him as 'Steve' - he always either called him 'capsicle' or 'girl-less'. "What's going on?" he asked Natasha warily, unsure what his friend had up his sleeve.

Natasha gave him an apologetic look but didn't say anything, resorting to climbing onto Steve's lap and hugging him tightly. He smiled softly, holding her closer. Somehow, Natasha always made him feel better.

Tony cleared his throat pointedly, looking a little more than pissed off. Steve wondered what his problem was - he thought that Tony had gotten rid of his crush _ages _ago, but Tony had already continued talking.

"It has come to my attention," he said loudly (and a little smugly), "that you don't know what sex is."

Steve immediately turned fifty shades of red. "I - uh," he stuttered. He _didn't_, and really had no problem admitting that, except that if he did, Tony would tell him in the most gruesome way possible. He unconsciously clutched Natasha closer to him, who gave Tony a chastising look.

"Stop hiding behind Tasha, Rogers," Tony snapped, annoyed. He opened up a page with nude people on his tablet, and Natasha immediately smacked his arm.

"That's just - no!" she complained.

Steve grudgingly looked up, and Tony grinned. "That's more like it," he encouraged. "I'm just doing this for your benefit, Stevie. Lighten up; you're going to learn about it in school soon anyway."

And then, Tony spent the next fifteen minutes describing, in detail, what happened during sex. Steve's mouth had dropped open halfway through, and Natasha stroked his hair, feeling sorry for him. By the time he was done, Steve's ears, arms, cheeks and possibly, whole body was flushed.

"I just - oh my god," he groaned, burying his head in Natasha's shoulder. Natasha patted his hair softly.

"That's enough for today, Tony," she scolded, holding Steve protectively. And that's when Tony burst.

"What do you think you're doing, Rogers?" he demanded, standing up. "Hiding behind her like that - face me like a man!"

Steve looked offended but confused, and Natasha glowered. "This has nothing to do with being a man, Tony," she hissed, her anger flaring up fast. She continued clutching him and Tony looked even more pissed off.

"You know that you're being a wuss, Rogers!" he shouted. "Stop holding her - she's _my _best friend!"

Natasha's eyes flashed at that, and she stood up, pushing Tony's chest. "I am not your property, Stark!" she spat.

At the use of her last name, Tony lost control. She used his last name often of couse, but not with that much indignation in her voice. She had never been this angry with him before, and it was all Steve's fault. "Or are you trying to get in her pants?" he suddenly asked. "You've heard all about how sex works and now you can't wait to get into her pants, so you act like the victim and hope that she'll sympathise you! Well guess what, Rogers - she doesn't like weakness!"

"Shut up!" Steve roared, up on his feet. "How dare you think I'd want to use Natasha for _that! _She doesn't deserve that, none of our girls do! She deserves someone who's strong, independent and who'll love her for who she is! And that certainly isn't _you_!"

"Enough!" Natasha said sharply, slapping both of them on the cheeks when they were both chest-to-chest. Tony's neck snapped back, and he looked at her, shock etched upon his face. Steve bore a hurt expression; he never thought that Natasha would _slap _him. She looked unfazed, glaring at the both of them. "I will sort this out," she hissed, "and you will _both _listen to me." She waited until both of them stiffly nodded before going on. "I am _not _a piece of property. I am _not _a whore. I am _not _to be toyed with, and you will _both _sort things out right now, or so help me I will kick both of your asses."

With that, she stalked off, fuming. Tony and Steve both stared after her, unable to look at each other.

Suddenly, Tony glared at Steve. "This is all your fault!" he shouted, before running off to chase after Natasha. He heard the blonde shout in frustration but quickly went further and further away from the room towards the gym, where he knew Natasha would be.

Natasha was on the sixtieth floor, punching a punching bag. She was practically livid. What was Tony's problem? Why wouldn't he just leave her alone? Sure, she never sat on anyone else's lap apart from Tony's. She never stroked anyone's hair apart from Tony's. She never comforted anyone else apart from Tony.

But she had sympathised with Steve and wanted to hold him while Tony practically threw his innocence out of the window. Steve's innocence was a beautiful thing according to Natasha. He was the only _pure _one out of all of them, and he was a perfect gentleman. He never questioned anything that he wasn't supposed to and treated _everyone _with respect. He was untainted, unfazed by the teenage world. To take that away was to take away the last piece of his beautiful childhood and enter adulthood and somehow, Natasha didn't want that for Steve. She couldn't explain why, but she knew what it was like to grow up too fast, and since Steve was the only one _untainted, _she wanted to protect him from adulthood. But Tony ruined it all.

And for Tony to explain it in the way he did... of course Steve would curl up against her and beg her to cover his ears. But Tony had only described it more and more erotically every time she held him closer to her, which she didn't get.

The boy in question suddenly burst through the doors, looking a little wild. He looked angry, frustrated and a little desperate. His hair was sticking up everywhere, his eyes bright and alert and he was panting heavily. She punched the bag with more force at the sight of him, sending it flying across the room.

Silence filled the room as they both looked at the fallen punching bag, both having returned to their senses a bit. Tony seemed to realise just how upset he had made Natasha, and Natasha had realised just how much she was overreacting.

_I really upset her. Why do I have to be such an idiot? _he was asking himself.

_Steve's a teenager - it's perfectly normal. Why do I care so much? _she was asking herself.

"I - Tash," Tony sighed, putting his arms up in surrender. "I overreacted. I'm sorry." He looked up hopefully. "Truce?"

A laugh escaped her lips and the corners of her mouth curled upwards unintentionally. _Stop it, Tasha - you're mad at him! _"Why were you so angry?" she asked gently, unable to bring herself to confront him properly.

He shrugged helplessly. "You only sit on my lap," he bit his lip. "I was just... surprised, I guess."

This time, she really did smile, and looked down at her feet. "It's always been you and me, ever since we were both toddlers trying to find our way in a home we didn't belong in," she said, looking up to meet his chocolate eyes. "I just... I think I need to be able to find myself without you, Tony."

He blinked. "Are you breaking up with me?" he asked incredulously, frowning.

Natasha's eyebrows shot up and she hastily shook her head. "We're not together, Tony," she tried to say jokingly, but it came out bitter and a little reluctant.

"That's not true," he disagreed, and her heart skipped a beat. _What's going on with you, Tash? _"You were my girlfriend when we were kids, remember?" he asked playfully, breaking the ice.

She laughed long and loud - which eventually he joined in. She laughed in relief and in affection with the boy she held so close to her heart. He was her salvation, her hero, her confident - he was her everything. And that's when she knew she couldn't stop hanging onto him like this.

"Tony," she said after she was finished, and he immediately sobered. "You're my best friend," she said honestly, slowly crossing the room towards him. "You were the person I relied on for eleven years. _Eleven years, _Tony," she said seriously, stopping to stand in front of him. His expression was unreadable - guarded. She hated to see him like this, but she needed this for herself. "You can't get jealous when I treat someone else like that," she said gently.

Tony frowned. "I wasn't jealous!" he insisted.

"The point is," she pressed on, "I've been hanging onto you for so long. It's always been "Tony and Tasha" - but I need to try to be Tasha without Tony, okay? I'm not asking you to stop being my best friend. I'm just asking you to let me be _myself _without you going everywhere I go. Our friendship - this?" She gestured between the both of them. "It was built around broken families and lonely hearts. We're always together because we always _have _been together since the beginning. We don't really know what it's like to just be each other. You don't need to protect me anymore," she said softly. "We're not children anymore, Tony. It's time for us to stop hanging onto the past and move on."

And with that, she walked away, leaving Tony feeling pain all over his body because he knew that he had lost the young, innocent Natasha he had loved. He knew that this wasn't about Steve, or him being too protective about her. It was because he had always been protective of her - he didn't know what else to do if he _couldn't _be protective around her. He understood what she had said, but that didn't make him feel any less broken inside.

* * *

Maybe Loki wasn't that observant, but he could notice some things if he wanted to.

Like the fact that HBO's logo had changed, or Jane's ability to shoot targets. And the fact that Tony and Natasha were acting very distant indeed.

It had started off with breakfast. They had all come down - the usual, of course - to the dining room, to have their normal breakfast of pancakes and waffles. Loki was the first one down this morning, and he was fixing himself with some milk when Tony came down.

"Morning," he greeted Loki, and moved to sit next to him. Loki had frowned then; Tony always came down for breakfast with Natasha.

"Morning," he told the black-haired boy. Something was off about him - his eyes had bags under them and he looked... hopeless. Loki had never seen Tony like this, and it worried him. "Where's Natasha?" he questioned.

Tony squeezed the maple syrup a little too hard and the contents landed on the floor. "Shit," he cursed, calling for JARVIS to clean it up. "I don't know," he said, shrugging as he licked the syrup off his fingers. "I didn't see her this morning."

Loki's eyes shot to the ceiling. Something was definitely up, something that didn't exactly fall under the category of bad, but not under good, either. Before he could question Tony any further, Pepper bounded down the stairs sleepily, holding her phone in her hand.

"Hi guys," she said, sitting across from Loki and pouring herself some water. Her phone buzzed and she instantly lightened up, checking it, and smiled as she read her text.

"Who is it?" Loki asked, although he already knew the answer.

"Rhodey," she answered happily. "He sent me a good morning text." Pepper and James "Rhodey" Rhodes had started dating only a month ago. Tony had been incredibly jealous, and still remained jealous every time she talked about him. But now he seemed unfazed.

"That's great," he mumbled and chewed on his pancakes gloomily. Pepper instantly frowned; he was always quick to shoot her a glare or a quick remark every time she mentioned Rhodey's name.

"Is everything okay, Tony?" Loki asked carefully, wondering why the boy hadn't shot off chattering by now. Tony _never _stopped talking, and when he did, it meant something was bothering him.

"Everything's absolutely fine," Tony said through his teeth, cutting himself another piece of the pancake. Pepper and Loki shared a look of bewilderment.

"You know you can tell us if anything's wrong, right?" Pepper told him slowly, reaching out to touch his harm. He flinched at the contact and pulled away, glaring at her.

"I said," he snarled, "everything's fine." He went back to eating and Pepper was breathing heavily. Tony had always pissed her off, but at the end of the day, she still cared about him. And right now, she was genuinely worried.

Betty, Jane, Bruce, Clint and Thor came walking down the stairs, courtesy of the "more homely feel", as Hank liked to call it. He thought that the kids were being too spoilt by having an elevator, so he renovated a whole three floors to make it like the typical family house - a ground floor with the kitchen, sofa room and lounge and the second and third floor consisting of bedrooms and living rooms.

"Good morning," Thor greeted them casually, pulling out a chair two chairs away from Tony.

"You can sit there," Tony said suddenly, pointing to the chair next to him. "Just - yeah. You can sit there."

Thor frowned, looking confused. "But Natasha -"

"- is not my shadow," he finished. "She's perfectly capable of sitting somewhere I'm not sitting. So _you can sit there."_

Everyone on the table exchanged looks at this. Natasha had always sat next to Tony on the dining table - _something seriously wrong is going on_, Loki thought.

Thor still looked doubtful. "Won't Steve -" he asked instead, referring to Tony's other best friend.

"Steve won't mind!" Tony burst out, glaring at all of them. "I don't need to sit next to them - I'm independent and I can fucking survive without having to be near Natasha or Steve. So please, Thor, just _sit down!"_

They all flinched at his outburst, and Thor dutifully sat down. Silence filled the room as everyone continued eating, exchanging looks with everyone except for Tony.

Steve and Natasha came down the stairs next, talking seriously about something. They immediately stopped when they saw everyone - save for Tony - staring at the two in confusion.

"Good morning, everyone," Natasha greeted them, faking a bright smile. "What's for breakfast?"

"Pancakes and waffles," Bruce said blankly, "as every Saturday's is."

"Right," Natasha muttered to herself, pulling out a chair. She noticed that Tony was looking down at his food, chewing robotically. "Morning, Tony," she said gently to him.

"Good morning, Natasha," he replied instantly, but emotionlessly. It broke her heart - he never called her anything other than 'Tasha'. She let out a soft sigh and turned back to look at her food, popping a piece of pancake into her mouth and chewing it robotically. Steve looked awkwardly between the two and pulled out a chair to sit next to Natasha, albeit hesitantly when Tony started cutting his pancakes with more force than he needed.

And that's when Loki knew what was up.

* * *

_A few weeks later_

* * *

Things still weren't looking up for Steve, Tony and Natasha. Natasha hadn't wanted her and Tony to have a complete fall out, but he had made it clear that he'd either want to go back to the way things were, or not be friends at all. And since _Natasha _had made it clear that she didn't want to go back to the way things were, he decided on the latter.

And it was taking its toll on her.

She was spending more and more time in the gym, working her frustration on a punching bag. Steve would usually offer to be a sparring partner, but she didn't want to be around him either - he reminded her too much of exactly _why_ she and Tony had had a falling out, after all. So she spent time with - surprisingly - Loki.

Loki wasn't much of a talkative spirit, anyway, so when she plopped down next to him with her books and asked him to help her with some physics, he obliged without even raising an eyebrow. He never prodded her nor shot her questioning glances whenever she and Tony refused to make eye contact if they were in the same room, to which she was grateful for. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about Tony.

Week five passed by in a rush, and Natasha found herself once again sitting in a quiet corner with Loki, finishing off yet another series. She read the last few words and sighed, closing the book. No matter how many books she read, she couldn't get her mind off the fact that she could have been sparring with Tony, or laughing with Tony, or just sitting with Tony. And instead, she was tearing through the library and had finished off at least five different series of books.

Loki flipped a page of his book and asked lazily, "Finished another one?"

She sighed and nodded, placing the book on the coffee table and leaning her head back against the sofa. "I'm on a roll," she quirked.

"That you are," he chuckled, and closed his own book, handing it to her. "You can read this if you like."

She took it without examining it. "Another astronomy book?"

"With a little plot. It's not one of mine."

"Oh? Then who's is it?"

"Borrowed it from Tony."

Instantly, the book felt like fire and she let go of it, flinching away. Loki seemed unsurprised but let out a loud sigh.

"This is getting out of hand, Natasha," he told her, picking the book up and inspecting for damage. There was none and he seemed satisfied. "You need to talk to him again."

"I - I can't," she spoke through a lump in her throat, which she swallowed. "He doesn't want to talk to me."

"It's because he's too stubborn to apologise," Loki says breezily, waving her statement away. "And I do remember you vaguely telling me that you initiated this little ignoring-streak, anyway. You should be the one to end it."

Natasha shook her head firmly, refusing to look at him. "No," she said stubbornly, "I wanted to still be friends, just to have a little breather. He doesn't want to talk to me."

At this, Loki rolled his eyes and got up from the couch, stretching his limbs. "Trust me, he does. And so does Steve. And I don't want meals to be tense any longer, so you'd better resolve this conflict soon." He checked his watch. "I'm going to bed - but think about it, Tasha."

She watched him leave the room, sighing and putting her head in her arms. "What am I going to do?" she said in a muffled moan.

The fire in front of her crackled on, oblivious to her dismay.

* * *

**Yes I know I'm cruel to have left it there, but I need your input. Do you want some Tony/Tasha, or Steve/Tasha? And are there any other ships you guys want me to incorporate into this?**

**And yes, I've changed my pen name to _mildlyholmes. _I felt my old one was too childish.**


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